try/catch in php not printing anything out - php

Question

Hey Everyone it has been awhile wince I've worked with try/catch blocks but I would like to start using them again just for purpose of error handling and proper practices. My code is below,
$email_code = $_REQUEST['code']; //retrive the code from the user clicked link in the email
//database information
$dsn = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=primarydb';
$username = 'root';
$password = '';
try {
//option for PDO allows for prepared SQL statements that will mazimize the prevention of sql injections and malicious attacks on the server and databases
$conn = new PDO($dsn, $username, $password); //establish the connection
$conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, false); //disable the php parse from parsing the statements.
$conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION); //allow error mode to be active in order to display any errors which may open up holes to attacks
//if the connection fails the try/catch block will pick it up
if (!$conn) {
throw new PDOException('Fatal error on connection');
} else {
//prepare and exexcute the query to match the codes up
$stmt = $conn->prepare("SELECT email_code, active from primarydb.user WHERE email_code = ?");
$stmt->bindParam(1, $email_code, PDO::PARAM_STR, 32);
//check to make sure that the statment executes properly
if (!$stmt->execute()){
throw new PDOException("PDO ERROR ON EXECUTION:\n" . $stmt->errorInfo());
} else { //statement has not failed
//get the row count
$count = $stmt->rowCount();
//traverse the results
while ($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)) {
//there can only be one!
if ($count != 1 || $row['active'] != 0) {
//generate error message
throw new PDOException("Wrong Code");
} else {
echo "working";
//prepare the update statement
$stmt = $conn->prepare("UPDATE primarydb.user SET active = ? WHERE email_code = ?");
$stmt->brindParam(1, 1, PDO::PARAM_INT);
$stmt->bindParam(2, $email_code, PDO::PARAM_STR, 32);
if (!$stmt->execute()) {
throw new PDOException("We're sorry but we can not update your profile at this time, plesae try again later. If this problem persists please contact customer service.");
} else {
print "Your account has now been activated and it is ready to use!";
}
}
}
}
}
} catch(PDOException $e){
//display error message if the database has failed in some manner
echo $e->getMessage();
}
I would like to know why I am not getting any of the error messages, and then how do I fix this problem so that I can avoid making the same problems again in the future. If there is something that is missing or if more information is needed please let me know. Otherwise I think it is pretty straight forward.
ADDITIONAL INFO: I have putt a message that says working at each block of if/else and the one it finally stops showing up at is when I check if($count != 1 || $row['active'] != 0)
UPDATE
<?php
$email_code = $_REQUEST['code']; //retrive the code from the user clicked link in the email
//database information
$dsn = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=primarydb';
$username = 'root';
$password = '';
try{
//option for PDO allows for prepared SQL statements that will mazimize the prevention of sql injections and malicious attacks on the server and databases
$conn = new PDO($dsn, $username, $password); //establish the connection
$conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, false); //disable the php parse from parsing the statements.
$conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION); //allow error mode to be active in order to display any errors which may open up holes to attacks
//prepare the update statement
$stmt = $conn->prepare("UPDATE primarydb.user SET active = ? WHERE email_code = ?");
$stmt->bindParam('is', $a = 1, $email_code);
if($stmt->execute()){
print "Your account has now been activated and it is ready to use!";
}
} catch(PDOException $e){
//display error message if the database has failed in some manner
echo $e->getMessage();
}
?>
Generated new code, I don't want to get off topic, but I would like a complete solution to this problem. I am now getting the following error
Strict Standards: Only variables should be passed by reference in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\mjsite\login\complete_registration.php on line 14
SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 2031
Thoughts?

Answer 1

Please read this first line from the PDOException documentation:
Represents an error raised by PDO. You should not throw a PDOException
from your own code.
Just throw and catch regular old Exceptions. This would also catch a PDOException which inherits from it.
This also gives you a much better way to distinguish between actual exception thrown by PDO and your own exceptions. By the way, it would seem you have a number of cases where you are redundantly throwing exception when PDO would have encountered an error and thrown an exception anyway. Only the first exception will be caught, so in many of those cases, your throw would never be executed.
Also why bother with the SELECT before the update at all? YOu are basically just wasting a query because you aren't doing anything with the selected information. Perhaps just go straigth for update and handle cases where email_code doesn't exist.