Generate Keys on from a list when refreshed

[dkblackhawk]

To understand this I will explain. On some sites they give away beta codes etc. They have it so that it gets emailed to you or it gets displayed. I am looking for that kind of a code that displays a different code once a code has been used(refreshed).

Thanks for your time

[Nile]

Do you want the code to be random? Or be generated from a database.

If a database, you could have something like this:

CODE | USED|
--------------
94nD9|  0    |
--------------
94nD9|  1    |
--------------
64y2u|  1    |

[dkblackhawk]

Do you want the code to be random? Or be generated from a database.

If a database, you could have something like this:

CODE | USED|
--------------
94nD9|  0    |
--------------
94nD9|  1    |
--------------
64y2u|  1    |

Yes be generated from a database thanks for pointing that out. So how exactly would I use the above code? and how would i make it so that it wont show if it is the same ip or something along those lines. I have the php code to get the IP.

[Nile]

Wait - don't you want it so that each code can only be used once?

If yes - then every time the code is used, the USED BOOL gets set to 1.

[dkblackhawk]

Wait - don't you want it so that each code can only be used once?

If yes - then every time the code is used, the USED BOOL gets set to 1.

I only want each code to be used once. How would I set this up?

[Nile]

Ok, let me just go over this.
You're database structure would start off like this:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `code` (
  `codes` text NOT NULL,
  `used` tinyint(1) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Notice how all of the USED are set to 0? That means that they haven't been used yet.

Then - to validate codes you'd do:

<?php
if(!isset($_GET['code'])){ die("No code"); }
include('conn.php');

$query = "SELECT * FROM  `code` WHERE `codes` = '{$_GET['code']}' AND `used` = '0'";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
if(mysql_num_rows($result) > 0){
  $set_query = "UPDATE `code` SET `used` = '1' WHERE `codes` = '{$_GET['code']}' AND `used` = '0' ";
  mysql_query($set_query) or die(mysql_error());
  echo "You used code: ".$_GET['code'];
} else {
  die("This code has already been used!");
}
?>

[dkblackhawk]

Thanks just need to figure out how to edit a database on my host ^_^"

[Nile]

Sorry, I can't help with that! Haha.

Also - if you need to generate tons of codes and put them in a database, the code to get the code is:

<?php
function generate_code(){
  $abc = range("A", "Z");
  $abc_i = range("a", "z");
  $num = range("1", "9");
  $r = array();
  for($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++){
    $random = rand(0, 3);
    switch($random){
      case 0:
        $r[] = $abc[rand(0, count($abc)-1)];
      break;
      case 1:
        $r[] = $abc_i[rand(0, count($abc_i)-1)];
      break;
      case 2:
        $r[] = $num[rand(0, count($num)-1)];
      break;
      case 3:
        $r[] = $num[rand(0, count($num)-1)];
      break;
    }
  }
  return implode($r);
}
echo generate_code();
?>

While it might return the same code twice - it is very unlikely.

[dkblackhawk]

I found out I can't edit the database tables so is there a way that I can just use a standard file (php?) and do it from there?

[Nile]

Aww man! What kind of host are you using?