use CGI:Carp 'fatalsToBrowser';
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Also, add:

use CGI;
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.02

cLive ;-)

--
seek(JOB,$$LA,0);

my $sth = $dbh->prepare( qq|
  select count( * ) 
  from 
    userlist
  where
    colemail = ?
|) || die $dbh->errstr;

$sth->execute( $FORM{'email'} );
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I'm a newbie to SQL. When I tried to run a CGI with this:

my $sth = $dbh->prepare(<<SQL) or die $dbh->errstr;
select count(*) from userlist
where colemail = \'$FORM{'email'}\';
SQL

$sth->execute;
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I get a 500 error.

Drop the semicolon. A lot of SQL engines trip over them.

Taint error. Why aren't you using placeholders? Even if this could work for well-behaved user data entries, it can still easily fail for others. Using a placeholder would prevent that.

And if you've connected to the database with the raiseError attribute set to true, there's no need for the or die... part.

my $sth = $dbh->prepare(<<SQL);
select count(*) from userlist
where colemail = ?
SQL

$sth->execute($FORM{email});
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my $sth = $dbh->prepare(<<SQL) or die $dbh->errstr;
select count(*) from userlist
where colemail = '$FORM{'email'}';
SQL

$sth->execute;
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--nutshell

you need to use: $sth->do( SQL STATEMENT HERE ); for one liners and $SQL = " SQL STATEMENT HERE "; $sth->prepare($SQL); for statements you want to prepare and execute over and over again.

Have you looked at your server logs? It will likely help you locate the problem. For instance, if $FORM{'email'} contains something you don't expect and your prepare fails, the error log should contain $dbh->errstr as that's what you die with.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";

select count(*) from userlist
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where colemail = \'$FORM{'email'}\';
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instead of the whole in one go. Try putting both on one line, or putting in a line continuation character. Your DB documentation should tell you what that character should be (often a backslash \ ).

CU
Robartes-

I've never seen a database that sensitive to newlines. Which have you used that might be a problem?

perldoc DBI for details, but in a nutshell you just say DBI->trace(2), changing the level (2) to taste.

at level 2 you can see how your statement was prepared, how the variables were bind-ed (bound), and what the resultant string used was. i have found this to be more than adequate debugging information for almost all DBI-related bugs i've written thus far.

HTH.

$sth->do( SQL STATEMENT HERE );
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$SQL = " SQL STATEMENT HERE ";
$sth->prepare($SQL);
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Sorry, forgot a line. you need to use:

$dbh->do( SQL STATEMENT HERE );
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for one liners and

$SQL = " SQL STATEMENT HERE ";
$sth->prepare($SQL); 
$sth->execute;
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for statements you want to prepare and execute over and over again.