diff --git a/include/Contact.php b/include/Contact.php
index 1d49d4eeba..00c25df83e 100644
--- a/include/Contact.php
+++ b/include/Contact.php
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ function contact_remove($id) {
 		return;
 	}
 
-	q("DELETE FROM `contact` WHERE `id` = %d", intval($id));
+	dba::delete('contact', array('id' => $id));
 
 	// Delete the rest in the background
 	proc_run(PRIORITY_LOW, 'include/remove_contact.php', $id);
@@ -617,8 +617,8 @@ function get_contact($url, $uid = 0, $no_update = false) {
 		}
 
 		if (count($contacts) > 1 && $uid == 0 && $contact_id != 0 && $data["url"] != "") {
-			dba::e("DELETE FROM `contact` WHERE `nurl` = ? AND `uid` = 0 AND `id` != ? AND NOT `self`",
-				normalise_link($data["url"]), $contact_id);
+			dba::delete('contact', array("`nurl` = ? AND `uid` = 0 AND `id` != ? AND NOT `self`",
+				normalise_link($data["url"]), $contact_id));
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/include/conversation.php b/include/conversation.php
index 7c044a672c..f81fb3eb8d 100644
--- a/include/conversation.php
+++ b/include/conversation.php
@@ -680,8 +680,9 @@ function conversation(App $a, $items, $mode, $update, $preview = false) {
 				$hashtags = array();
 				$mentions = array();
 
-				$taglist = dba::p("SELECT `type`, `term`, `url` FROM `term` WHERE `otype` = ? AND `oid` = ? AND `type` IN (?, ?) ORDER BY `tid`",
-						intval(TERM_OBJ_POST), intval($item['id']), intval(TERM_HASHTAG), intval(TERM_MENTION));
+				$taglist = dba::select('term', array('type', 'term', 'url'),
+							array("`otype` = ? AND `oid` = ? AND `type` IN (?, ?)", TERM_OBJ_POST, $item['id'], TERM_HASHTAG, TERM_MENTION),
+							array('order' => array('tid')));
 
 				while ($tag = dba::fetch($taglist)) {
 					if ($tag["url"] == "") {
diff --git a/include/cron.php b/include/cron.php
index eda88dbcd3..ccac49b637 100644
--- a/include/cron.php
+++ b/include/cron.php
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ function cron_run(&$argv, &$argc){
 		proc_run(PRIORITY_LOW, "include/cronjobs.php", "update_photo_albums");
 
 		// Delete all done workerqueue entries
-		dba::e('DELETE FROM `workerqueue` WHERE `done` AND `executed` < UTC_TIMESTAMP() - INTERVAL 12 HOUR');
+		dba::delete('workerqueue', array('`done` AND `executed` < UTC_TIMESTAMP() - INTERVAL 12 HOUR'));
 	}
 
 	// Poll contacts
diff --git a/include/poller.php b/include/poller.php
index 4831ff0747..8c30d16285 100644
--- a/include/poller.php
+++ b/include/poller.php
@@ -474,8 +474,9 @@ function poller_max_connections_reached() {
  *
  */
 function poller_kill_stale_workers() {
-	$entries = dba::p("SELECT `id`, `pid`, `executed`, `priority`, `parameter` FROM `workerqueue` WHERE `executed` > ? AND NOT `done` AND `pid` != 0 ORDER BY `priority`, `created`", NULL_DATE);
-
+	$entries = dba::select('workerqueue', array('id', 'pid', 'executed', 'priority', 'parameter'),
+				array('`executed` > ? AND NOT `done` AND `pid` != 0', NULL_DATE),
+				array('order' => array('priority', 'created')));
 	while ($entry = dba::fetch($entries)) {
 		if (!posix_kill($entry["pid"], 0)) {
 			dba::update('workerqueue', array('executed' => NULL_DATE, 'pid' => 0),
@@ -698,10 +699,8 @@ function find_worker_processes(&$passing_slow) {
 
 	if (poller_passing_slow($highest_priority)) {
 		// Are there waiting processes with a higher priority than the currently highest?
-		$result = dba::p("SELECT `id` FROM `workerqueue`
-					WHERE `executed` <= ? AND `priority` < ? AND NOT `done`
-					ORDER BY `priority`, `created` LIMIT ".intval($limit),
-				NULL_DATE, $highest_priority);
+		$result = dba::select('workerqueue', array('id'), array("`executed` <= ? AND `priority` < ? AND NOT `done`", NULL_DATE, $highest_priority),
+				array('limit' => $limit, 'order' => array('priority', 'created'), 'only_query' => true));
 
 		while ($id = dba::fetch($result)) {
 			$ids[] = $id["id"];
@@ -712,10 +711,8 @@ function find_worker_processes(&$passing_slow) {
 
 		if (!$found) {
 			// Give slower processes some processing time
-			$result = dba::p("SELECT `id` FROM `workerqueue`
-						WHERE `executed` <= ? AND `priority` > ? AND NOT `done`
-						ORDER BY `priority`, `created` LIMIT ".intval($limit),
-					NULL_DATE, $highest_priority);
+			$result = dba::select('workerqueue', array('id'), array("`executed` <= ? AND `priority` > ? AND NOT `done`", NULL_DATE, $highest_priority),
+					array('limit' => $limit, 'order' => array('priority', 'created'), 'only_query' => true));
 
 			while ($id = dba::fetch($result)) {
 				$ids[] = $id["id"];
@@ -729,7 +726,8 @@ function find_worker_processes(&$passing_slow) {
 
 	// If there is no result (or we shouldn't pass lower processes) we check without priority limit
 	if (!$found) {
-		$result = dba::p("SELECT `id` FROM `workerqueue` WHERE `executed` <= ? AND NOT `done` ORDER BY `priority`, `created` LIMIT ".intval($limit), NULL_DATE);
+		$result = dba::select('workerqueue', array('id'), array("`executed` <= ? AND NOT `done`", NULL_DATE),
+				array('limit' => $limit, 'order' => array('priority', 'created'), 'only_query' => true));
 
 		while ($id = dba::fetch($result)) {
 			$ids[] = $id["id"];
@@ -740,9 +738,9 @@ function find_worker_processes(&$passing_slow) {
 	}
 
 	if ($found) {
-		$sql = "UPDATE `workerqueue` SET `executed` = ?, `pid` = ? WHERE `id` IN (".substr(str_repeat("?, ", count($ids)), 0, -2).") AND `pid` = 0 AND NOT `done`;";
-		array_unshift($ids, datetime_convert(), $mypid);
-		dba::e($sql, $ids);
+		$condition = "`id` IN (".substr(str_repeat("?, ", count($ids)), 0, -2).") AND `pid` = 0 AND NOT `done`";
+		array_unshift($ids, $condition);
+		dba::update('workerqueue', array('executed' => datetime_convert(), 'pid' => $mypid), $ids);
 	}
 
 	return $found;
diff --git a/include/socgraph.php b/include/socgraph.php
index 55e0e6fc3a..ace1b916eb 100644
--- a/include/socgraph.php
+++ b/include/socgraph.php
@@ -1025,7 +1025,7 @@ function poco_check_server($server_url, $network = "", $force = false) {
 	if (dbm::is_result($servers) && ($orig_server_url == $server_url) &&
 		($serverret['errno'] == CURLE_OPERATION_TIMEDOUT)) {
 		logger("Connection to server ".$server_url." timed out.", LOGGER_DEBUG);
-		dba::p("UPDATE `gserver` SET `last_failure` = ? WHERE `nurl` = ?", datetime_convert(), normalise_link($server_url));
+		dba::update('gserver', array('last_failure' => datetime_convert()), array('nurl' => normalise_link($server_url)));
 		return false;
 	}
 
@@ -1040,7 +1040,7 @@ function poco_check_server($server_url, $network = "", $force = false) {
 		// Quit if there is a timeout
 		if ($serverret['errno'] == CURLE_OPERATION_TIMEDOUT) {
 			logger("Connection to server ".$server_url." timed out.", LOGGER_DEBUG);
-			dba::p("UPDATE `gserver` SET `last_failure` = ? WHERE `nurl` = ?", datetime_convert(), normalise_link($server_url));
+			dba::update('gserver', array('last_failure' => datetime_convert()), array('nurl' => normalise_link($server_url)));
 			return false;
 		}
 
diff --git a/include/threads.php b/include/threads.php
index bb978bc774..c1277778e6 100644
--- a/include/threads.php
+++ b/include/threads.php
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ function delete_thread($itemid, $itemuri = "") {
 function update_threads() {
 	logger("update_threads: start");
 
-	$messages = dba::p("SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `id` = `parent`");
+	$messages = dba::select('item', array('id'), array("`id` = `parent`"));
 
 	logger("update_threads: fetched messages: ".dba::num_rows($messages));
 
@@ -292,9 +292,9 @@ function update_threads_mention() {
 function update_shadow_copy() {
 	logger("start");
 
-	$messages = dba::p("SELECT `iid` FROM `thread` WHERE `uid` != 0 AND `network` IN ('', ?, ?, ?)
-				AND `visible` AND NOT `deleted` AND NOT `moderated` AND NOT `private` ORDER BY `created`",
-				NETWORK_DFRN, NETWORK_DIASPORA, NETWORK_OSTATUS);
+	$condition = "`uid` != 0 AND `network` IN ('', ?, ?, ?) AND `visible` AND NOT `deleted` AND NOT `moderated` AND NOT `private`";
+	$messages = dba::select('thread', array('iid'), array($condition, NETWORK_DFRN, NETWORK_DIASPORA, NETWORK_OSTATUS),
+				array('order' => 'created'));
 
 	logger("fetched messages: ".dba::num_rows($messages));
 	while ($message = dba::fetch($messages))
diff --git a/mod/display.php b/mod/display.php
index 59ff7082cf..4adb860f39 100644
--- a/mod/display.php
+++ b/mod/display.php
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ function display_init(App $a) {
 				// We really should change this need for the future since it scales very bad.
 				$contactid = get_contact($r['owner-link'], local_user());
 				if ($contactid) {
-					$items = dba::p("SELECT * FROM `item` WHERE `parent` = ? ORDER BY `id`", $r["id"]);
+					$items = dba::select('item', array(), array('parent' => $r["id"]), array('order' => array('id')));
 					while ($item = dba::fetch($items)) {
 						$itemcontactid = get_contact($item['owner-link'], local_user());
 						if (!$itemcontactid) {