Dynamically bind mysqli_stmt parameters and then bind result (PHP)

Question

I'm trying to dynamically bind mysql_stmt parameters and get the result in an associative array. I've found this post here on stackoverflow where Amber posted an answer with the following code:

Original post: How to make a proper mysqli extension class with prepared statements?

"Assuming you're actually wanting to write your own version (as opposed to utilizing one of the existing libraries other answers have suggested - and those are good options, too)...

Here are a couple of functions which you may find it useful to examine. The first allows you to bind the results of a query to an associative array, and the second allows you to pass in two arrays, one an ordered array of keys and the other an associative array of data for those keys and have that data bound into a prepared statement:"

function stmt_bind_assoc (&$stmt, &$out) {
    $data = mysqli_stmt_result_metadata($stmt);
    $fields = array();
    $out = array();

$fields[0] = $stmt;
$count = 1;

while($field = mysqli_fetch_field($data)) {
    $fields[$count] = &$out[$field->name];
    $count++;
}
call_user_func_array(mysqli_stmt_bind_result, $fields);

}

function stmt_bind_params($stmt, $fields, $data) {
    // Dynamically build up the arguments for bind_param
    $paramstr = '';
    $params = array();
    foreach($fields as $key)
    {
        if(is_float($data[$key]))
            $paramstr .= 'd';
        elseif(is_int($data[$key]))
            $paramstr .= 'i';
        else
            $paramstr .= 's';
        $params[] = $data[$key];
    }
    array_unshift($params, $stmt, $paramstr);
    // and then call bind_param with the proper arguments
    call_user_func_array('mysqli_stmt_bind_param', $params);
}

I tried studying the code to understand what it does and I've made the second function work properly but I don't know what I should do to be able to utilize the first function. How do I use it to retrieve an array similar to mysqli_result::fetch_assoc()?

I want to be able to utilize the result in such a way like you used to do with:

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
  echo $row['foo']." ".$row['bar'];
}

Please help me to make some progress with this :)

Answer 1

Okay, here is a way to do it:

Edited, to fix bug when fetching multiple rows

$sql = "SELECT `first_name`,`last_name` FROM `users` WHERE `country` =? AND `state`=?";
$params = array('Australia','Victoria');

/*
    In my real app the below code is wrapped up in a class 
    But this is just for example's sake.
    You could easily throw it in a function or class
*/

// This will loop through params, and generate types. e.g. 'ss'
$types = '';                        
foreach($params as $param) {        
    if(is_int($param)) {
        $types .= 'i';              //integer
    } elseif (is_float($param)) {
        $types .= 'd';              //double
    } elseif (is_string($param)) {
        $types .= 's';              //string
    } else {
        $types .= 'b';              //blob and unknown
    }
}
array_unshift($params, $types);

// Start stmt
$query = $this->connection->stmt_init(); // $this->connection is the mysqli connection instance
if($query->prepare($sql)) {

    // Bind Params
    call_user_func_array(array($query,'bind_param'),$params);

    $query->execute(); 

    // Get metadata for field names
    $meta = $query->result_metadata();

    // initialise some empty arrays
    $fields = $results = array();

    // This is the tricky bit dynamically creating an array of variables to use
    // to bind the results
    while ($field = $meta->fetch_field()) { 
        $var = $field->name; 
        $$var = null; 
        $fields[$var] = &$$var; 
    }


    $fieldCount = count($fieldNames);

// Bind Results                                     
call_user_func_array(array($query,'bind_result'),$fields);

$i=0;
while ($query->fetch()){
    for($l=0;$l<$fieldCount;$l++) $results[$i][$fieldNames[$l]] = $fields[$fieldNames[$l]];
    $i++;
}

    $query->close();

    // And now we have a beautiful
    // array of results, just like
    //fetch_assoc
    echo "<pre>";
    print_r($results);
    echo "</pre>";
}