PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION, PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC, PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false, ]; try { $pdo = new PDO($dsn, $user, $pass, $options); return $pdo; } catch (PDOException $e) { // In a real application, you'd log this error and show a generic error page. // For development, it's okay to show the error. error_log('DB Connection Error: ' . $e->getMessage()); return null; } }