function for returning an associative array from mysqli result
function toArray($stm) {
$items = array();
$params = array();
$meta = $stm->result_metadata();
while($field = $meta->fetch_field()) {
$params[] = &$row[$field->name];
}
call_user_func_array(array($stm, 'bind_result'), $params);
while($stm->fetch()){
$temp = array();
foreach($row as $key => $val) {
$temp[$key] = $val;
}
$items[] = $temp;
}
return $items;
}