I can't stop the hammering!

multiple executions of script

[bibby]

I'm well on my way to a decent PHP RPG, and for tonight, I put together a battle system much like Final Fantasy and others.
Works like this...
Your party ( of 1 to 3) battles a monster mob (of 1 to 5), and each of the 2 to 8 participants has a 'dexterity value'. That dex value determines who gets to strike next after the current guy is finished, which works fine.

BUT_ here's the thing:
When it's your turn to attack, and all that you need is to pick a target ( an [a href]), you can hammer the link (or click it a bunch of times) and get many strikes out of a single turn!
The 'action' handler is a seperate .php, and the first thing it does is take the active character and move him down the list.

How can I stop this?!

I thought about switching the method to a form, but I remember seeing paysites that suggest that I click the submit button ONLY ONCE! Would this still happen with forms as well?

Should I bounce to an additional script?
hmmm might work, or would it?
(Selection.php --->
Location: KickYouAsActive.php?active=you --->
Location: Action.php --->
[back to]Location: Selection.php)

///////

[raimondious]

Maybe use JavaScript to set a flag contained in a hidden input.
<input type="hidden" name="performedAction" value="false">

Then you would have
onmousedown="document.performedAction=true"
in your links and this would get sent to the next script so you could have

if(performedAction){//ignore}
else{ perform action}

[chrisjoha]

Javascript is a good suggestion. But you could also extend the example to show the user that hammering is not allowed. Let's say you've got <p><a href="taketurn.php" onclick="disableLink(this);">Go!</a></p>

Then do:

disableLink(aEl) { 
  text = aEl.innerHTML; 
  parentEl = aEl.parentNode; 
  parentEl.removeChild(aEl); 
  parentEl.appendChild(document.createTextNode(text)); 
} 

This will effectively disable the link after one click. Of course, the example is crude and not thouroughly tested, but it should provide the concept.

[chrisjoha]

excuse my type, you need to add the keyword "function" of course:

function disableLink(aEl) {  
   text = aEl.innerHTML;  
   parentEl = aEl.parentNode;  
   parentEl.removeChild(aEl);  
   parentEl.appendChild(document.createTextNode(text));  
} 

[raimondious]

That's a good idea since it involves no server-side processing at all. Then again you could always use both just in case (that if-statement won't affect speed at all really)...

[DaButcher]

if your game is based on mysql, you can have a table with "open moves".

eg. Only one open move at a time, and I guess they have to wait for a turn/tick.
if it's turn-based, it's very simple..

first you arrange who is first, second and third.
first clicks:
update table, set can_move = 0
update table, set can_move = 1 where player = second

ps.. this is psuedocode!