Can't get PHP PDO and OOP classes to work [closed] - php

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I am trying to learn how to use PHP PDO as Object Oriented Programming.
I have tried following these two tutorials:
http://culttt.com/2012/10/01/roll-your-own-pdo-php-class/
http://culttt.com/2012/09/24/prevent-php-sql-injection-with-pdo-prepared-statements/
but I can't get anything on either of them to work.
The second one gives a download link to a pre-written wrapper class class.db.php from http://www.imavex.com/php-pdo-wrapper-class/
using this pre-written wrapper class and trying something as simple as this tutorial.php (credentials changed):
// Include the database class
include("class.db.php");
// Connect to database
$db = new db("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=my-db-name", "my-username", "my-password");
$results = $db->select("ad_publication");
print_r($results);
The above shows a blank page.
I know there is nothing wrong with the pre-written class and the text of the above example as it was copied directly out of the tutorial and the comments are full of thanks and praise.
I know there is nothign wrong with my credentials as this works fine:
try
{
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=my-db-name', 'my-username', 'my-password');
$pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
$pdo->exec('SET NAMES "utf8"');
$output = 'Connection Successful';
echo $output;
}
catch (PDOException $e)
{
$output = 'Unable to connect to the database server.' . $e->getMessage();
echo $output;
exit();
}
And outputs Connection Successful
My Server is running PHP 5.5 and the table used in the example above is an InnoDB table.
When I run the example select statement my error logs show:
PHP Notice: Undefined variable: GhG678 in /var/www/vhosts/mywebsite.com.au/httpdocs/booking/tutorial.php on line 7
line 7:
$db = new db("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=my-db-name", "my-username", "my-password");
PHP Warning: Creating default object from empty value in /var/www/vhosts/mywebsite.com.au/httpdocs/booking/class.db.php on line 18
line 18:
$this->error = $e->getMessage(); // (from public function __construct)`
PHP Fatal error: Call to a member function select() on a non-object in /var/www/vhosts/mywebsite.com.au/httpdocs/booking/tutorial.php on line 9
line 9:
$results = $db->select("ad_publication"); // (an existing table with data in it)
I just can't see what I could be doing wrong especially as the wrapper class was not written by me and no-one else is complaining about it (heaps of praise) and the contents of tutorial.php were copied directly from the page with only the table name changed.
Like I say, using the PDO connection and doing normal PDO queries without the wrapper class, work fine.
Can anyone here see anything that could be going wrong or know of anything that I should look at?

Answer 1

I'm not sure why I copped a -1 for that question??
I thought it was very complete.
Anyway, thanks to #Sean for providing the clue to the answer.
My password does in fact have a $ character in it.
The connection code of mine that does work (as shown above) is:
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=my-db-name', 'my-username', 'my-password');
Their code that I was using is:
$pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=my-db-name", "my-username", "my-password");
changing the " characters to ' worked straight away.
The password was auto-generated by my hosts (Plesk) and I don't know enough about PHP to know that there is a difference between ' and ". I've never known why some people use one and some use the other. Seems I still have a lot to learn.
#Sean, because you didn't put it as a reply, I couldn't choose your suggestions as the answer, so I don't know how to give you the points, but thank you very much for steering me in the right direction.