<?php
$head =  $_POST['title'];
$bread = $_POST['html'];
$author = $_POST['selectlist1'];
$postdate = date('y-m-d h:i:s',time());
$cat = $_POST['selectlist2'];
$serverName = 'SERVERSQLEXPRESS';
$db = new PDO('sqlsrv:Server=$serverName;Database=blog', 'sa', '******');
$db->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

$sql = 'INSERT INTO dbo.blog_posts (blog_title, blog_post, blog_author, blog_date, blog_category) VALUES (:head, :bread, :author, :postdate, :cat)';

$query = $db->prepare( $sql );
$query->execute( array(':head'=>$head, ':bread'=>$bread, ':author'=>$author, ':postdate'=>$postdate, ':cat'=>$cat ) );

?>

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'PDOException' with message 'SQLSTATE[08001]: [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0]Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to SQL Server [53]. ' in C:inetpubwwwrootblogpost.php:9 Stack trace: #0 C:inetpubwwwrootblogpost.php(9): PDO->__construct('sqlsrv:Server=$...', 'sa', '*****') #1 {main} thrown in C:inetpubwwwrootblogpost.php on line 9