Verifying MYSQL executed a result not using get_result() - php

Question

What's the best way to verify mysql executed successfully and then returned a result when you CANNOT use the following code:
$db = dbConnect();
//begin prepared statements to search db
$stmt = $db->prepare("SELECT email,authentication,email_confirm,externalid,password,id, admin FROM users WHERE email=?");
$stmt->bind_param('s',$email);
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();
if (!$result){
//error statement
} if (!(mysqli_num_rows($result)==0)){
//action to perform
} else {
// no result returned
}
I was using get_result numerous times in my scripts, and my hosting provider doesn't have mysqlnd driver so I have to rewrite a lot of code. I know I am limited to bind_result and fetch(), but I need a little help rewriting the code since my mindset is stuck in the way I first did it.
I'm also using mysqli and not PDO.

Answer 1

The Mysqli fetch() function will return one of 3 values:
TRUE - Success. Data has been fetched
FALSE - Error occurred
NULL - No more rows/data exists or data truncation occurred
This means you can set your query like this:
$db = dbConnect();
$query = "SELECT email,authentication,email_confirm,externalid,password,id, admin FROM users WHERE email=?";
$stmt = $db->prepare();
$stmt->bind_param('s',$email);
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->bind_result($email,$auth,$email_confirm,$externalid,$password,$id,$admin);
// Will only execute loop if returns true
$record_count = 0;
while($result = $stmt->fetch())
{
// Increment counter
$record_count++;
// Do something with bound result variables
echo("Email is $email");
}
// After the loop we either ran out of results or had an error
if($result === FALSE)
{
echo("An error occurred: " . $db->error());
}
elseif($record_count == 0)
{
echo("No records exist.");
}