function isaDupe($portableDB, $transactArray)
{
    $ref = $transactArray["reference"];
    $date = $transactArray["qdate"];
    $time =  $transactArray["time"];

  //prints the query so I can run by hand to test
    print "SELECT `counter` FROM transactions WHERE (`reference` = '$ref' AND `qdate` = '$date' AND `time` = '$time') ";

    if ($dupeSelectStmt = $portableDB->prepare("SELECT `counter` FROM transactions WHERE (`reference` = ? AND `qdate` = ? AND `time` = ?)"))
    {
        $dupeSelectStmt->bind_param('sss',$ref, $date, $time);
        $dupeSelectStmt->bind_result($counter);
        $dupeSelectStmt->execute();

        while ($dupeSelectStmt->fetch())
        {
            break;
        }

        $numRows = $portableDB->affected_rows;

        if ($numRows > 0)
            return TRUE;
        else if ($numRows == -1)
        {
            print " ERROR: ";
            print_r($portableDB->error);
            print_r($dupeSelectStmt->error);
            return FALSE;
        }
        else
            return FALSE;
    }
}