First PDO query

[Q695]

What's wrong with the query, I'm not getting errors outputted:

// configuration
$dbtype     = "MySQL";
$dbhost     = "localhost";
$dbname     = "eagle";
$dbuser     = "root";
$dbpass     = "";


// database connection
$conn = new PDO("mysql:host=$dbhost;dbname=$dbname",$dbuser,$dbpass);
// query
$sql = "INSERT INTO member_data (fname, mname, lname, street, apt, city, state, zip, email, number, job, awarded) VALUES
(:fname, :mname, :lname, :street, :apt, :city, :state, :zip, :email, :number, :job, :awarded)
";
echo $sql;
$q = $conn->prepare($sql);
$q->execute(array(':fname'=>$fname,
                  ':mname'=>$mname,
                  ':lname'=>$lname,
                  ':street'=>$street,
                  ':apt'=>$apt,
                  ':city'=>$city,
                  ':state'=>$state,
                  ':zip'=>$zip,
                  ':email'=>$email,
                  ':number'=>$number,
                  ':job'=>$job,
                  ':awarded'=>$awarded
                  ));

How do I run an or die to output the error?

[Ch0cu3r]

To get the error message with PDO, either run your prepare query in a try/catch block to catch the exception

 

Or use PDO::errorInfo

 

Also dont use die to output errors. It is ok for development but not when your code goes live. Instead use trigger_error

[mac_gyver]

it's easiest to use exceptions with pdo statements to catch errors and handle logging/displaying error messages. the connection always throws an exception if it fails and once you have created a connection, you can configure the pdo instance to throw exceptions, which you can use a try/catch block around to handle, for all other statements that fail.

 

see this link on how to use a try/catch block for the connection and how to configure pdo statements to throw exceptions - http://us3.php.net/manual/en/pdo.error-handling.php

[Q695]

lol had a pdo quoting error.

 

What does :variable name mean, compared to $variable mean in this pdo tutorial: http://www.phpeveryday.com/articles/PDO-Insert-and-Update-Statement-Use-Prepared-Statement-P552.html

[Ch0cu3r]

You should be looking at the manual on PDO prepared statements for the answer. The manual is always the first place you should look for understanding what a function does.

[Q695]

it doesn't explain the different symbols on a cheat sheet.

[Ch0cu3r]

The second sentence explains it from the page I linked to.

 

 

The SQL statement can contain zero or more named (:name) or question mark (?) parameter markers for which real values will be substituted when the statement is executed.