I posted a question awhile ago asking how I could limit the rate at which a form could be submitted from a rails application. I was helped by a very patient user and their solution works great. The code was for my comments controller, and now I find myself wanting to add this functionality to another controller, my Messages controller. I immediately tried reusing the working code from the comments controller but I couldn't get it to work. Instead of asking for the working code, could someone please help me understand my working comment controller code?
class CommentsController < ApplicationController
#...
before_filter :post_check
def record_post_time
cookies[:last_post_at] = Time.now.to_i
end
def last_post_time
Time.at((cookies[:last_post_at].to_i rescue 0))
end
MIN_POST_TIME = 2.minutes
def post_check
return true if (Time.now - last_post_time) > MIN_POST_TIME
flash[:warning] = "You are trying to reply too fast."
@message = Message.find(params[:message_id])
redirect_to(@message)
return false
end
#...
def create
@message = Message.find(params[:message_id])
@comment = @message.comments.build(params[:comment])
if @comment.save
record_post_time
flash[:notice] = "Replied to \"#{@message.title}\""
redirect_to(@message)
else
render :action => "new"
end
end
def update
@message = Message.find(params[:message_id])
@comment = Comment.find(params[:id])
if @comment.update_attributes(params[:comment])
record_post_time
redirect_to post_comment_url(@message, @comment)
else
render :action => "edit"
end
end
#...
end
My Messages controller is pretty much a standard rails generated controller with a few before filters and associated private methods for DRYing up the code and a redirect for non existent pages.
I'll explain how much of the code I understand. When a comment is created, a cookie is created with a last_post_time value. If they try to post another comment, the cookie is checked if the last one was made in the last two minutes. If it was a flash warning is displayed and no comment is recorded. What I don't really understand is how the post_check method works and how I can adapt it for my simpler posts controller. I thought I could reuse all the code in the message controller with the exception of the line:
@message = Message.find(params[:message_id])
# (don't need the redirect code)
in the post_check method. But it trips up on the "record_post_time" in the create action/method. I really want to understand this. Can someone explain why this doesn't work? I greatly appreciate you reading my lengthy question.
