// connect to database and select database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$dbname = "spy";
$dbh_conn = new PDO("mysql:host=$servername;dbname=$dbname", $username, $password);
$dbh_conn->exec("set names utf8");
$dbh_conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, false);
$dbh_conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);