[kh99]

OK, this is kind of bare bones but hopefully it will help:

PHP Code:

<?php

//create a db table called something like "contest_clicks" with two colums:
//ip CHAR length 15, no default, not null, index = 'index'
//clicktime INT no default, not null, unsigned
//(I'm using the types like vbulletin uses them because frankly I don't know if any other way is better).


// Database connect info - change this to your info
$dbname = 'name';
$servername = 'server';
$port = ''; // defaults to 3306
$username = 'user';
$password = 'pass';

$timeperiod = 3600; // time period in second, 3600 = 1 hour
$max_clicks = 2; // clicks allowed in time period.

// connect to db
$useport = $port ? $port : 3306;
if (mysql_pconnect("$servername:$useport", $username, $password) === false)
    die("db connect error: " . mysql_error());

if (mysql_select_db($dbname) === false)
    die("db select error: " . mysql_error());

// check for click records from this ip within time period
$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$timenow = time();
$timelimit = $timenow - $timeperiod;
$clicks = mysql_query("SELECT clicktime FROM contest_clicks WHERE ip = '$ip' AND clicktime > $timelimit ORDER BY clicktime ASC");
if ($clicks === false)
    die("db query error: " . mysql_error());

if (mysql_num_rows($clicks) >= $max_clicks)
{
    //show error messsage or redirect to error page ???
    // If you want to show time remaining until they can click again, use this code,
    // Otherwise you can commenty out or delete this code
    $clicktime = mysql_fetch_array($clicks);
    $nextallowed = date('g:i:s', $clicktime['clicktime'] + $timeperiod);
    echo "Time is now " . date('g:i:s', $timenow) . "<BR/>";
    echo "Not allowed until $nextallowed<BR/>";
}
else
{
    //OK, send mail and save click record
    // Insert mail sending code from original script either before or after this.
    if (mysql_query("INSERT INTO contest_clicks (ip, clicktime) VALUES ('$ip', '$timenow')") === false)
        die("db error: " . mysql_error());
    echo("Sent email<BR/>");
}

Note the instructions for creating the table (which you have to do manually) are at the top. And you need to set your db info. This doesn't have the email code in there, but you can see where you should insert it (pretty much just copying the code form the existing script, or maybe put it in a function. This doesn't really handle errors except printing them out, I don't really know how you'd want to handle them.