In my contact form there is no database involved, the details from the user get emailed straight to me. What i want to do is put a limit so that each ip can only use the contact form once? How do i do this?

There are a couple ways you could go about this.

1) Make it so that when the user clicks the 'submit' button, it creates a session. If the user attempts to click the 'submit' button again after that, the script will check and see if that user has any sessions, and if so, it won't send the message. The downside is that after a while, these sessions expire. They also create additional strain (though insignificant) for the server.

2) Make it so that when the user clicks the 'submit' button the script writes the user's IP address to a .txt file (not quite my classification of a database). If the user attempts to click the 'submit' button again after that, the script will check the .txt file for their IP address, and if it's in there, it won't send the message.

I'd recommend option 2.

Great, thanks for the reply. Im a novice when it comes to this stuff, so could you help me out a bit. Could you give me any code examples of option 2? Thanks.

Well, I normally don't really like giving code, because it usually keeps the learner from understanding exactly what he's doing. Have you had any previous experience with PHP? If not, it's not too hard to get up to speed fairly quickly. You can read up on php.net, which contains a full documentation on the language. And a few Google searches never really hurt anyone. It's a pretty simple project.

If I have time, maybe I can draft up a little code for you. BTW, that's a rather large 'if'.

i'm learning PHP nowadays only, i saw your conversation of both of u, nice conversation., will u please write the code and explain me or else just put the code, me myself will try it... thankuuuuuuuuuu

I havent got much php experience at all. I am having a go at trying to create the script now, ill let you know how i get on. If you could post any example code though, that would be great.

Ok, so ive got the ip addresses of users to be stored in a text file each time they submit the form. Now, how do i go about reading the file to see if their ip address is in their before the submit the form?

Here is something really basic to give you a start. You will need write permissions set in the directory you want to create the text file for it to work.

PHP Code:

  $file = 'ip_ignore_list.dat';
  
  $enable_contact_form = false;
  
  if (file_exists($file))
  {
    $ip_array = explode(PHP_EOL, trim((string)@file_get_contents($file)));
    if (!in_array($_SESSION['REMOTE_ADDR'], $ip_array)) $enable_contact_form = true;
  }
  
  if ($enable_contact_form) @file_put_contents($file, $_SESSION['REMOTE_ADDR'] . PHP_EOL, FILE_APPEND);
  
  if (isset($_POST['submit']) AND $enable_contact_form)
  {
    // Process form here...
    
    
    
  } 


Sorry about not replying earlier, I've been out of town. I'd post a little code, but it looks like mgraphic has it all under control. He's a far better programmer than I am anyway.

Originally Posted by stevej

looks like mgraphic has it all under control. He's a far better programmer than I am anyway.

You are giving me WAY TOO MUCH credit!