Question

I have a site that has few request options (for example add photo, add comment). I want to limit of requests made by use per certain time, for example so he can’t post more than 5 comments within hour, he can’t add more than 5 photos per hour etc.

My idea was to make/update session variable every time form action is sent, so it sums up to 5 (and if session var == 5 it would deny action on every form). My idea seems good in my mind, but i just can’t find the way to reset certain session variable 1 hour from it’s initation). Looking forward for any ideas

Answer 1

Do it from SQL using simple SQL commands you can get the number of items done in the past hour and thus no need to use session variables (which will die if a user reset it’s session)

Check the number of “posts” for a specific element in the current hour

SELECT
    COUNT(*) 
FROM 
    my_elements_table 
WHERE 
    HOUR(createdon) = HOUR(NOW()) 
    AND DATE(createdon) = CURDATE()
    AND createdby = the_user_you_are_checking

Check the number of “posts” for a specific element in the past hour

SELECT
    COUNT(*) 
FROM 
    my_elements_table 
WHERE 
    DATE_ADD(createdon, INTERVAL 1 HOUR) > NOW() 
    AND createdby = the_user_you_are_checking

Obviously, adapt the SQL based on your database fields and tables but you should have a good starting point with that.