Error Trapin and IP Address Logging (look at the newbie :) )

[devolutionary]

Hey there, newbie over here *waves, bounces around, hands out bribes*

 

Right, enough of the nice stuff I\'ll get straight to the point i guess, as I think you\'d prefer it that way.

 

I\'ve been working with PHP and MySQL for the past month and a half I guess, using very specific tutorials and alot of angry words at my computer. My goal is to create a database containing a group of profiles for an online chat. I have already worked on input, output, searching, and am soon to do updating. What I am having troubles with though I can not seem to find much information on.

 

First of all, the name field needs to be unique for the environment, but I am unsure of how to check this to ensure that each name used is unique.

 

I am also wanting to record the IP Address of each profile every time it is logged in, so any spammers/abusers can be banned should it be required. I believe that this would require an update code ot be performed each time they login, however I am unsure of how to get the IP address in the first place.

 

Also, if anyone can please point out how to record the date that a profile was last logged or modified, that would be awfully nice too.

 

If you require any more informetion, then please feel free to email me at [email protected] or contact me on ICQ (UIN: 302898772 ). Again, thanks for any help at all here