need to setcookie

itworks

i have a section in my site which is a list of all entries from a database and the user can vote in 10 of them. this is working fine but i must have some kind of protection against people who want to vote several times.

this section is composed by two scripts, TOP.PHP and VOTE.PHP.
the first one is the form and the second processes the votes.

so what i need is a cookie, right? the problem is that i don't know anything about them, how to set them and where to put it (which of the scripts).

can anyone help me with this?

thanks in advance 🙂

Jedi_Legend

// $_COOKIE['cookie_name'] will equal 'Cookie Value' and will expire in one hour.
setcookie("cookie_name", "Cookie Value", time()+3600);

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.setcookie.php

ElectricMessiah

Don't forget: cookies must be sent before any other code.

itworks

thanks everyone for your help.

the part i'm really stucked is the one of detecting the cookie, in which script to i put it, top.php or vote.php? and what's the best way of doing it?😕

itworks

it has come to my mind that maybe there's a better/easier way to accomplish that the user doesn't vote several time.

tell me if a better/easier way to make it is by putting a field where the user must insert a valid email address , then that address is added to a database table and in future times when a user who uses that email again can't vote.

if this is way over my head, tell me.

ElectricMessiah

Yes. A better way to ensure someone does not vote twice is via a db as, if a user removes or does not accept cookies, they will easily get around your work.

You should then use the db option, which can simply take their email addy or any other type of unique data and query the db for previous entries.

for example:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tablename WHERE emailcolumn=$emailaddy");
$query_data = mysql_fetch_array($result);
if ($query_data == NULL) {
   // enter the new user into the db
   $in_result = mysql_query("INSERT INTO tablename VALUES(...)");
} else {
   // email addy already exists in the db, so do not input vote
   echo "You have already voted!";
}

I hope this helps! 😃

itworks

yes it helps, thank you!

so i just make a 1st page with a field for the user to insert is mail and then pass into the main vote page if he doesn't exist in the db, right? or can i put that code along with the main vote page?

ElectricMessiah

That code would be best used on the Main vote page after you have passed the variables to it.

itworks

what do you meen? if you could draw a schema i would be appreciate it.