Converting MySql Insert To PDO - php

Question

I am trying to convert this to PDO:
echo 'sup 1';
$sql = "INSERT INTO blogData(
title,
content,
category)
VALUES (
:title,
:content,
:category)";
echo 'sup 2';
$stmt = prepare($sql);
echo 'sup 3';
$stmt->bindParam(':title', $_POST['title'], PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindParam(':content', $_POST['content'], PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindParam(':category', 'City Secrets', PDO::PARAM_STR);
echo 'sup 4';
$stmt->execute();
echo 'sup 5';
header('location: http://www.backToThePageIPostedOn.com');
This is my current code but it is not entering to the DB:
$sql = "INSERT INTO blogData(
title,
content,
category)
VALUES (
:title,
:content,
:category)";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$stmt->bindParam(':title', $_POST['title'], PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindParam(':content', $_POST['content'], PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindParam(':category', 'City Secrets', PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->execute();
header('location: http://www.backToThePageIPostedOn.com');
Its stopping on the script page. This is my first time to use PDO so If someone could point out the error in my syntax I would appreciate it.
My code does not get past echo 'sup 2';
So I believe the error is in this line, $stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
I followed a tutorial to do this and I don't understand why they are adding the
$pdo in.
I was assuming thats supposed to be my connection but I have that set as
$con
When I change
$pdo to $con I still get the same cut off at echo 'sup 2';

Answer 1

Statement bindParam method accepts second parameter by reference. Only variables can be passed by reference.
The solution is to assign to variables the params you are going to bind:
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$title = $_POST['title'];
$content = $_POST['content'];
$category = 'City Secrets';
$stmt->bindParam(':title', $title, PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindParam(':content', $content, PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindParam(':category', $category, PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->execute();

Answer 2

This is the correct working code for the question above.
$stmt->bindParam
changed to
$stmt->bindValue
And added the connection.php file for DB connection.
<?php
require_once( 'connection.php' );
$sql = "INSERT INTO blogData(
title,
content,
category)
VALUES (
:title,
:content,
:category)";
$stmt = $con->prepare($sql);
$stmt->bindParam(':title', $_POST['title'], PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindParam(':content', $_POST['content'], PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->bindValue(':category', 'City Secrets', PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->execute();
header('location: http://www.website.com');
?>