Prepared Statements

I have two questions about Prepared Statements from the code below: #1: The purpose of the first $query is to determine if the authorization code supplied is both accurate and also live - When the authorization code is generated it is given a time frame when it must be used in. The columns start_date and end_date are both DATETIME. This is why I am using NOW() to check the “shelf life”. My question: Is there a better way to confirm the record was found than using: if ( $row['authorization_code'] == $authorization_code ) { In another way of executing a mySQL database query using PHP I can count the # rows the result brought with the command “mysql_numrows”. I don’t know how to do this in Prepared Statements. I wonder if comparing the # of rows found is a better method? or what other programmers are using? #2: How can I tell if the UPDATE $query executed successfully? I am wanting to do something like: echo “Update Successful – No changes were required during this review”; if the UPDATE is successful --- otherwise I need to direct the user to try again with a different message: echo “Update was unsuccessful – Follow this link to try again”; I am still getting use to Prepared Statements, this is why I am asking these questions --- Thank you for helping me. Ron === <?php $dsh = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname='.$database; $dbh = new PDO($dsh, $username, $password); #query for the authorization code $query = "SELECT authorization_code FROM directory_listing_update_authorizations WHERE NOW() BETWEEN start_date AND end_date AND authorization_code = :authorization_code AND directory_entries_reference = :directory_entries_reference LIMIT 1;"; $stmt = $dbh->prepare($query); $stmt->bindValue(':directory_entries_reference', $directory_entries_reference, PDO::PARAM_STR); $stmt->bindValue(':authorization_code', $authorization_code, PDO::PARAM_STR); $stmt->execute() or die(print_r($stmt->errorInfo(), true)); while ($row = $stmt->fetch()) { if ( $row['authorization_code'] == $authorization_code ) { #update directory_entries.last_review with today's date $query = "UPDATE directory_entries SET last_review = NOW() WHERE reference = :directory_entries_reference LIMIT 1;"; $stmt = $dbh->prepare($query); $stmt->bindValue(':directory_entries_reference', $directory_entries_reference, PDO::PARAM_STR); $stmt->execute() or die(print_r($stmt->errorInfo(), true)); } else { #failure, direct user to request new authorization code or login manually } } www.TheVerseOfTheDay.info