[php] How do I display a MySQL error in PHP for a long query that depends on the user input?

Try something like this:

$link = @new mysqli($this->host, $this->user, $this->pass)
$statement = $link->prepare($sqlStatement);
                if(!$statement)
                {
                    $this->debug_mode('query', 'error', '#Query Failed<br/>' . $link->error);
                    return false;
                }