[RESOLVED] CRC to generate discount code..

[Studio381]

Hi,
I'm developing an application where I'd like to offer the user a discount if he/she comes back for more business.

The service is unique for a particular individual. So I thought of deriving a code from the person's name
eg $yourdiscountcode = somefunction(crc32('name'));

Then I could check that the name and code match - using someone else's name and code is of no benefit.

Would this be a good way and what sort of function would be sensible? - massive security not needed but should not be too obvious eg adding a fixed number to the crc would not be good enough.

Thanks,
John.

[laserlight]

You could consider a cryptographic hash, e.g., one of the algorithms available for [man]hash/man, or the older [man]md5/man and [man]sha1/man.

[benracer]

i would create a random number then check this against the db to ckeck that this is not allreaady in use