protected function insertRecord()
    {
        $sql = 'INSERT INTO '.$this->fq_name;
        $cols = '(';
        $vals = '(';
        $args = array();
        $table_def = $this->getDefinition();
        foreach($this->instance as $column => $value) {
            if (isset($this->columns[$column]['increment']) && $this->columns[$column]['increment']) {
                // omit autoincrement column from insert
                continue;
            } else if (!isset($table_def[$column])) {
                // underlying table is missing this column
                continue;
            }
            $cols .= $this->connection->identifierEscape($column).',';
            $vals .= '?,';    
            $args[] = $value;
        }
        $cols = substr($cols,0,strlen($cols)-1).')';
        $vals = substr($vals,0,strlen($vals)-1).')';
        $sql .= ' '.$cols.' VALUES '.$vals;

        $prep = $this->connection->prepare($sql);
        $result = $this->connection->execute($prep, $args);

        if ($result) {
            $this->record_changed = false;

            /** if the insert succeeded and the table contains an incrementing
                id column, that value will most likely be more useful
                than the result object */
            foreach($this->columns as $name => $info) {
                if (isset($info['increment']) && $info['increment'] === true) {
                    $new_id = $this->connection->insertID();
                    if ($new_id !== false) {
                        $result = $new_id;
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        return $result;
    }