Guys - newbie here with big question - at least for me is big 
(pardon if i dont refer to things with the proper terms)
I have a controller here that lets a user update their status
infinitively but what I want to do is
limit them to say only update their status 5 times a day... meaning
every 24 hours, so if they update their status 5 times
they are blocked from doing so but then after 24 hours have past, they
are again allowed to post for 5 times again...
So if I update my status on Monday at 00:05, 06:00, 12:00, 18:00, 23:59
Can I update my status Tuesday at 00:01? I think that your answer should be "no, because you have 5 updates within 24 hours."
However, if I try to update Tuesday at 00:10, I think that it should be OK because only the updates from Monday at 6:00, 12:00, 18:00, and 23:59 have occurred within 24 hours.
So let me rephrase your restriction (as I understand it):
An update is only allowed if there are fewer
than 5 updates in the past 24 hours.
Now, given your code in PostsController, I'm assuming that you can't really update a status, but instead you create a post. (Presumably the post indicates one's status, right?)
So that sounds like:
class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user
validates_presence_of :user_id
before_create :not_too_frequently
protected
def not_too_frequently
recent = self.class.count(:conditions => ['user_id = ? AND created_at > ?',
self.user_id, 24.hours.ago])
recent < 5
end
end
You'll notice that I'm also assuming that there is a user_id column since you said "lets a user update their status" and somewhere that means:
class User
has_many :posts
end
if anyone can help get me on the right track, that will be great.
thanks
señor.
class PostsController < ApplicationController
def index
@posts = Post.all(:order => "created_at DESC")
respond_to do |format|
format.html
end
end
def create
@post = Post.create(:message => params[:message])
respond_to do |format|
if @post.save
format.html { redirect_to posts_path }
format.js
else
flash[:notice] = "Message failed to save."
format.html { redirect_to posts_path }
end
end
end
end
--
You might also want to do something like:
self.errors.add_to_base("Only 5 status posting per 24 hours")
and then in the controller:
flash[:notice] = "Message failed to save: #{@post.errors.on[:base]}"
You could even get really fancy and tell the user how long until a new post would be accepted.
-Rob
Rob Biedenharn http://agileconsultingllc.com
Rob@AgileConsultingLLC.com