diff --git a/include/dba.php b/include/dba.php
index 2e89ca410d..0072660929 100644
--- a/include/dba.php
+++ b/include/dba.php
@@ -498,18 +498,28 @@ class dba {
 		unset($args[0]);
 
 		// When the second function parameter is an array then use this as the parameter array
-		if ((count($args) == 1) AND (is_array($args[1]))) {
+		if ((count($args) > 0) AND (is_array($args[1]))) {
 			$params = $args[1];
-			$i = 0;
-			foreach ($params AS $param) {
-				$args[++$i] = $param;
-			}
+		} else {
+			$params = $args;
+		}
+
+		// Renumber the array keys to be sure that they fit
+		$i = 0;
+		$args = array();
+		foreach ($params AS $param) {
+			$args[++$i] = $param;
 		}
 
 		if (!self::$dbo OR !self::$dbo->connected) {
 			return false;
 		}
 
+		if (substr_count($sql, '?') != count($args)) {
+			// Question: Should we continue or stop the query here?
+			logger('Parameter mismatch. Query "'.$sql.'" - Parameters '.print_r($args, true), LOGGER_DEBUG);
+		}
+
 		$sql = self::$dbo->any_value_fallback($sql);
 
 		if (x($a->config,'system') && x($a->config['system'], 'db_callstack')) {
@@ -1006,6 +1016,76 @@ class dba {
 		return self::e($sql, $params);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @brief Select rows from a table
+	 *
+	 * @param string $table Table name
+	 * @param array $fields array of selected fields
+	 * @param array $condition array of fields for condition
+	 * @param array $params array of several parameters
+	 *
+	 * @return boolean|object If "limit" is equal "1" only a single row is returned, else a query object is returned
+	 *
+	 * Example:
+	 * $table = "item";
+	 * $fields = array("id", "uri", "uid", "network");
+	 * $condition = array("uid" => 1, "network" => 'dspr');
+	 * $params = array("order" => array("id", "received" => true), "limit" => 1);
+	 *
+	 * $data = dba::select($table, $fields, $condition, $params);
+	 */
+	static public function select($table, $fields = array(), $condition = array(), $params = array()) {
+		if ($table == '') {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		if (count($fields) > 0) {
+			$select_fields = "`".implode("`, `", array_values($fields))."`";
+		} else {
+			$select_fields = "*";
+		}
+
+		if (count($condition) > 0) {
+			$condition_string = " WHERE `".implode("` = ? AND `", array_keys($condition))."` = ?";
+		} else {
+			$condition_string = "";
+		}
+
+		$param_string = '';
+		$single_row = false;
+
+		if (isset($params['order'])) {
+			$param_string .= " ORDER BY ";
+			foreach ($params['order'] AS $fields => $order) {
+				if (!is_int($fields)) {
+					$param_string .= "`".$fields."` ".($order ? "DESC" : "ASC").", ";
+				} else {
+					$param_string .= "`".$order."`, ";
+				}
+			}
+			$param_string = substr($param_string, 0, -2);
+		}
+
+		if (isset($params['limit'])) {
+			if (is_int($params['limit'])) {
+				$param_string .= " LIMIT ".$params['limit'];
+				$single_row =($params['limit'] == 1);
+			}
+		}
+
+		$sql = "SELECT ".$select_fields." FROM `".$table."`".$condition_string.$param_string;
+
+		$result = self::p($sql, $condition);
+
+		if (is_bool($result) OR !$single_row) {
+			return $result;
+		} else {
+			$row = self::fetch($result);
+			self::close($result);
+			return $row;
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * @brief Closes the current statement
 	 *