Creating Uniform Usernames

[jimothy]

I have implemented a user creation\authentication script on my site. But I would like it to automatically create the usernames from the user's last name & first initial (e.g. doej)... I just have no idea how to go about this - and I wasn't sure what I should do when two user's have the same last name....maybe put the first two letters of the first name (doejo)?

Secondly, when a user is created it inserts a datejoined value into the database, and there is an active\inactive setting. How would I implement a script that automatically sets the user to be inactive after 30 days... and maybe tells them that they have $thismany days left?

I'm pretty new to php, so I really would appreciate any help that could be provided. Thanks for your time.

[cheald]

Here's a little pseudocode that might help you out:

count = 0
orig_username = substr($firstname,0,1) . $lastname
username = orig_username
while username is not in the database{
if username is in database {
increment count
username = username . count
}
}
insert username