There really is almost all the code here in this thread that you would need. You just will need to implement your html and do the query. Besides that, the stuff above will be good for most of your project. As far as your connection goes and that fatal error. You might want to make sure you have properly set up the database. Sometimes the connection isnt "localhost" but is something else so check with your host. There could be about two dozen reasons why you cant connect but once you do just come back to this form because there's lots of good code here.

Good luck