Understanding PHP Data Objects (PDO)

Explains how to list the available database drivers installed on the system that can be used with PDO

Setting up an example database, explaining each column and inserting some example records that we can use throughout the series.

Using PHP to connect to the database and checking what we can do if a connection fails

Setting error levels for PDO, so we can check for errors in different ways.

Sending a basic query to the database server.

Fetching a list of results from our database table, and examining the data we receive

Looping over results so we can display them in a list or modify them. We use some HTML to display results to a user on a page.

Showing an easier way to fetch all results using one method so we don't need to loop over each row

Fetching results as an object, so we can work with data in true object oriented style and make our application clean and the data easier to work with.

Getting the count of rows in the results so we can either display the amount of results we have, or use this number for later calculations.

A small side project, creating a PHP class to represent a user in the system, which allows us to implement methods (functions) for each user we get back. This keeps our application DRY (do not repeat yourself) and much easier to work with, saving time in the future.

A look at security, and escaping data before we use it in our database queries, to help prevent against SQL injection.

Prepared statements that help query with large amounts of user data and more importantly automatically protect against SQL injection without having to manually escape each peice of data.

Inserting new records into the database.

Getting the last inserted ID of the record so we can perform future queries using the last record as a reference.