how do i go about this ?

[Accurax]

I have a function that allows my users to search my database, and i want to limit the mumber of queries a user can do in a given 24 hour period.

I can write a script that increments a field in my database everytime a user conducts a search, and i can stop them searching if this value is at a given limit.

But how do i go about resetting this field to zero every 24 hours?

[masonbarge]

I don't think this would be hard for a clever lad, you're just looking at the wrong end of the code. Mysql has both "if" and "time" functions. Have PHP send the query and do the coding on the mysql end. You might even think about having the "sorry, try again tomorrow" code in the database!

Otherwise, you're looking at multiple queries and a convoluted mess of php. I think doing the "if" code in mysql is going to be a lot cleaner, after all is said and done. Once you get the complex query working, you'll have one (longish) line of code that will do the whole thing.

Another thought is that you might do an initial query to check the time-counter, and just lock the person's access.

I'd almost do this for you just for fun/learning -- my mysql could really use some study time -- except I suspect you'll enjoy doing it yourself.

As a personal preference, I would not use any global variables except $_POST for this (or any page where user input can result in a change to the db).

[masonbarge]

Hmm, answered every question except the one you asked.

The first theoretical approach that comes to my (alleged) mind is:

Code: Select all

access 'counter number' and 'timestamp a' [timestamp of first query in period]
if ('time' - 'timestamp a') > 86400 [note, should work if timestamp a is 0]
...perform search;
...reset timestamp a;
...set 'counter' to 1;
else
...if 'counter' < [maximum search number]
......perform query;
......counter +1;
...else 
......error message;
......exit and/or clear;

[Accurax]

sorry if im missing something here... (st patricks and all hic)

But wouldnt i still need to find a way to automatically reset the counter when the clock ticks over to midnight?

[dannyboy26]

If you want something simple and quick you could always set up a simple Cron job to reset the counter to 0 across the db table and set it to run at midnight daily...

[Accurax]

This wasnt anywhere near as hard as i thought it was going to be.

I just used a unix timestamp to calculate if their last search was 12 hours or more ago... if it was i delete all entries in the data base and start incrementing the counter again.

[masonbarge]

Yar, that's what I was thinking. Set counter to "1" every 24 hours.

[Ryan Fait]

I was thinking a cron job, but that works too Cron jobs are soooooo wonderful.