public function connect( $conf ) 
	{	
		$connection_params = array();
		
		foreach( $conf as $key => $value )
		 {
			if ( is_string( $value ) ) 
			{
				$connection_params[ '{'.$key.'}' ] = $value;
			}
		}
		
		$connection_string = \CCStr::replace( $this->connection_string, $connection_params );
		
		$this->connection = new \PDO( $connection_string, $conf['user'], $conf['pass'], $this->connection_attributes( $conf ) );
		
		// At the moment this will never happen because pdo is going to 
		// trhow an exception when the connection fails
		/*if ( !$this->connection )
		{
			return false;
		}*/
		
		// let pdo throw exceptions
		$this->connection->setAttribute(\PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, \PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
		
		return true;
	}