pdo catch and output mysql errors

Question

I have an insert statement that is executed with PDO. Insert works great however if there is an error I would like it displayed to the user.

I have the below try-catch block.

try{ 
    $insertuser = $db->prepare('INSERT INTO `she_she`.`Persons` (`idnumber`,`addedby`,`firstname`, `middlename`, `surname`, `fullname`, `gender`, `birthdate`, `homelanguage`, `department`, `employeetype`, `employeestatus`) VALUES  (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)'); 
    $insertuser->execute(array($idnumber,$user,$firstname, $middlename, $surname, $fullname, $gender, $birthdate, $language, $department, $employmenttype, $personstatus));  
} 
catch(PDOException $exception){ 
    return $exception; 
} 

If the query fails, or let's say a duplicate IDNumber, I want this displayed to the user.

If I simply try to echo the variable $exception it does not work.

I want to return the MySQL error to the user.

Answer 1

By default PDO is not in a state that will display errors. you need to provide the following in your DB connection

$dbh->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

More info can be seen Here

Answer 2

1.Add ERRMODE_EXCEPTION mode after your db connection:

$dbh->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

2.And than you must use try{} catch{} method for all your mysql query. Like this:

try {
    $SQL = "DELETE FROM items WHERE item_id=:item_id";
    $m = $dbh->prepare($SQL);
    $m->bindParam(':item_id', $item_id, PDO::PARAM_INT);
    $m->execute();
    //success
    $return = "Your success message.";
}
catch (PDOException $e) {
    //error
    $return = "Your fail message: " . $e->getMessage();
}

Answer 3

You should use this:

return $exception->getMessage();

See the page on the documentation of Exception class:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/exception.getmessage.php