Limit Submissions Per Time Period (by IP, User, Role, Form URL, or Field Value)

Limit the number of times a form can be submitted per a specific time period. You modify this limit to apply to the visitor’s IP address, the user’s ID, the user’s role, a specific form URL, or the value of a specific field. These “limiters” can be combined to create more complex limitations.

Instructions

See “Where do I put snippets?” in our documentation for installation instructions.

Code

Filename: gw-submission-limit.php

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<?php
/**
 * Gravity Wiz // Gravity Forms // Limit Submissions Per Time Period (by IP, User, Role, Form URL, or Field Value)
 *
 * Limit the number of times a form can be submitted per a specific time period. You modify this limit to apply to
 * the visitor's IP address, the user's ID, the user's role, a specific form URL, or the value of a specific field.
 * These "limiters" can be combined to create more complex limitations.
 *
 * @version 3.0.1
 * @author  David Smith <david@gravitywiz.com>
 * @license GPL-2.0+
 * @link    https://gravitywiz.com/better-limit-submission-per-time-period-by-user-or-ip/
 */
class GW_Submission_Limit {

	var $_notification_event;

	private static $forms_with_individual_settings = array();
	private $_args                                 = array();

	public function __construct( $args ) {

		// make sure we're running the required minimum version of Gravity Forms
		if ( ! property_exists( 'GFCommon', 'version' ) || ! version_compare( GFCommon::$version, '1.8', '>=' ) ) {
			return;
		}

		$this->_args = wp_parse_args( $args, array(
			'form_id'              => false,
			'form_ids'             => array(),
			'limit'                => 1,
			'limit_by'             => 'ip', // 'ip', 'user_id', 'role', 'embed_url', 'field_value'
			'time_period'          => 60 * 60 * 24, // integer in seconds or 'day', 'month', 'year' to limit to current day, month, or year respectively
			'limit_message'        => __( 'Sorry, you have reached the submission limit for this form.' ),
			'apply_limit_per_form' => true,
			'enable_notifications' => false,
		) );

		if ( ! is_array( $this->_args['limit_by'] ) ) {
			$this->_args['limit_by'] = array( $this->_args['limit_by'] );
		}

		if ( empty( $this->_args['form_ids'] ) ) {
			if ( $this->_args['form_id'] === false ) {
				$this->_args['form_ids'] = false;
			} elseif ( ! is_array( $this->_args['form_id'] ) ) {
				$this->_args['form_ids'] = array( $this->_args['form_id'] );
			} else {
				$this->_args['form_ids'] = $this->_args['form_id'];
			}
		}

		if ( $this->_args['form_ids'] ) {
			foreach ( $this->_args['form_ids'] as $form_id ) {
				self::$forms_with_individual_settings[] = $form_id;
			}
		}

		add_action( 'init', array( $this, 'init' ) );

	}

	public function init() {

		add_filter( 'gform_pre_render', array( $this, 'pre_render' ) );
		add_filter( 'gform_validation', array( $this, 'validate' ) );

		if ( $this->_args['enable_notifications'] ) {

			$this->enable_notifications();

			add_action( 'gform_after_submission', array( $this, 'maybe_send_limit_reached_notifications' ), 10, 2 );

		}

	}

	public function pre_render( $form ) {

		if ( ! $this->is_applicable_form( $form ) || ! $this->is_limit_reached( $form['id'] ) ) {
			return $form;
		}

		$submission_info = rgar( GFFormDisplay::$submission, $form['id'] );

		// if no submission, hide form
		// if submission and not valid, hide form
		// unless 'field_value' limiter is applied
		if ( ( ! $submission_info || ! rgar( $submission_info, 'is_valid' ) ) && ! $this->is_limited_by_field_value() ) {
			add_filter( 'gform_get_form_filter_' . $form['id'], array( $this, 'get_limit_message' ), 10, 2 );
		}

		return $form;

	}

	public function get_limit_message() {
		ob_start();
		?>
		<div class="limit-message">
			<?php echo do_shortcode( $this->_args['limit_message'] ); ?>
		</div>
		<?php
		return ob_get_clean();
	}

	public function validate( $validation_result ) {

		if ( ! $this->is_applicable_form( $validation_result['form'] ) || ! $this->is_limit_reached( $validation_result['form']['id'] ) ) {
			return $validation_result;
		}

		$validation_result['is_valid'] = false;

		if ( $this->is_limited_by_field_value() ) {
			$field_ids = array_map( 'intval', $this->get_limit_field_ids() );
			foreach ( $validation_result['form']['fields'] as &$field ) {
				if ( in_array( $field['id'], $field_ids ) ) {
					$field['failed_validation']  = true;
					$field['validation_message'] = do_shortcode( $this->_args['limit_message'] );
				}
			}
		}

		return $validation_result;
	}

	public function is_limit_reached( $form_id ) {
		return $this->get_entry_count( $form_id ) >= $this->get_limit();
	}

	public function get_entry_count( $form_id ) {
		global $wpdb;

		$where = array();
		$join  = array();

		$where[] = 'e.status = "active"';

		foreach ( $this->_args['limit_by'] as $limiter ) {
			switch ( $limiter ) {
				case 'role': // user ID is required when limiting by role
				case 'user_id':
					$where[] = $wpdb->prepare( 'e.created_by = %s', get_current_user_id() );
					break;
				case 'embed_url':
					$where[] = $wpdb->prepare( 'e.source_url = %s', GFFormsModel::get_current_page_url() );
					break;
				case 'field_value':
					$values = $this->get_limit_field_values( $form_id, $this->get_limit_field_ids() );

					// if there is no value submitted for any of our fields, limit is never reached
					if ( empty( $values ) ) {
						return false;
					}

					foreach ( $values as $field_id => $value ) {
						$table_slug = sprintf( 'em%s', str_replace( '.', '_', $field_id ) );
						$join[]     = "INNER JOIN {$wpdb->prefix}gf_entry_meta {$table_slug} ON {$table_slug}.entry_id = e.id";
						// phpcs:ignore WordPress.DB.PreparedSQL.InterpolatedNotPrepared
						$where[] = $wpdb->prepare( "\n( ( {$table_slug}.meta_key BETWEEN %s AND %s ) AND {$table_slug}.meta_value = %s )", doubleval( $field_id ) - 0.001, doubleval( $field_id ) + 0.001, $value );
					}

					break;
				default:
					$where[] = $wpdb->prepare( 'ip = %s', GFFormsModel::get_ip() );
			}
		}

		if ( $this->_args['apply_limit_per_form'] || ( ! $this->is_global( $form_id ) && count( $this->_args['form_ids'] ) <= 1 ) ) {
			$where[] = $wpdb->prepare( 'e.form_id = %d', $form_id );
		} else {
			$where[] = $wpdb->prepare( 'e.form_id IN( %s )', implode( ', ', $this->_args['form_ids'] ) );
		}

		$time_period     = $this->_args['time_period'];
		$time_period_sql = false;

		if ( $time_period === false ) {
			// no time period
		} elseif ( intval( $time_period ) > 0 ) {
			$time_period_sql = $wpdb->prepare( 'date_created BETWEEN DATE_SUB(utc_timestamp(), INTERVAL %d SECOND) AND utc_timestamp()', $this->_args['time_period'] );
		} else {

			$gmt_offset  = get_option( 'gmt_offset' );
			$date_func   = $gmt_offset < 0 ? 'DATE_SUB' : 'DATE_ADD';
			$hour_offset = abs( $gmt_offset );

			$date_created_sql  = sprintf( '%s( date_created, INTERVAL %d HOUR )', $date_func, $hour_offset );
			$utc_timestamp_sql = sprintf( '%s( utc_timestamp(), INTERVAL %d HOUR )', $date_func, $hour_offset );

			switch ( $time_period ) {
				case 'per_day':
				case 'day':
					$time_period_sql = "DATE( $date_created_sql ) = DATE( $utc_timestamp_sql )";
					break;
				case 'per_week':
				case 'week':
					$time_period_sql  = "WEEK( $date_created_sql ) = WEEK( $utc_timestamp_sql )";
					$time_period_sql .= "AND YEAR( $date_created_sql ) = YEAR( $utc_timestamp_sql )";
					break;
				case 'per_month':
				case 'month':
					$time_period_sql  = "MONTH( $date_created_sql ) = MONTH( $utc_timestamp_sql )";
					$time_period_sql .= "AND YEAR( $date_created_sql ) = YEAR( $utc_timestamp_sql )";
					break;
				case 'per_year':
				case 'year':
					$time_period_sql = "YEAR( $date_created_sql ) = YEAR( $utc_timestamp_sql )";
					break;
			}
		}

		if ( $time_period_sql ) {
			$where[] = $time_period_sql;
		}

		$where = implode( ' AND ', $where );
		$join  = implode( "\n", $join );

		$sql = "SELECT count( e.id )
                FROM {$wpdb->prefix}gf_entry e
                $join
                WHERE $where";

		// phpcs:ignore WordPress.DB.PreparedSQL.NotPrepared
		$entry_count = $wpdb->get_var( $sql );

		return $entry_count;
	}

	public function is_limited_by_field_value() {
		return in_array( 'field_value', $this->_args['limit_by'] );
	}

	public function get_limit_field_ids() {

		$limit = $this->_args['limit'];

		if ( is_array( $limit ) ) {
			$field_ids = array_keys( $this->_args['limit'] );
			$field_ids = array( array_shift( $field_ids ) );
		} else {
			$field_ids = $this->_args['fields'];
		}

		return $field_ids;
	}

	public function get_limit_field_values( $form_id, $field_ids ) {

		$form   = GFAPI::get_form( $form_id );
		$values = array();

		foreach ( $field_ids as $field_id ) {

			$field = GFFormsModel::get_field( $form, $field_id );
			if ( ! $field ) {
				continue;
			}

			$input_name = 'input_' . str_replace( '.', '_', $field_id );
			$value      = GFFormsModel::prepare_value( $form, $field, rgpost( $input_name ), $input_name, null );

			if ( ! rgblank( $value ) ) {
				$values[ "$field_id" ] = $value;
			}
		}

		return $values;
	}

	public function get_limit() {

		$limit = $this->_args['limit'];

		if ( $this->is_limited_by_field_value() ) {
			$limit = is_array( $limit ) ? array_shift( $limit ) : intval( $limit );
		} elseif ( in_array( 'role', $this->_args['limit_by'] ) ) {
			$limit = rgar( $limit, $this->get_user_role() );
		}

		return intval( $limit );
	}

	public function get_user_role() {

		$user = wp_get_current_user();
		$role = reset( $user->roles );

		return $role;
	}

	public function enable_notifications() {

		if ( ! class_exists( 'GW_Notification_Event' ) ) {

			_doing_it_wrong( 'GW_Inventory::$enable_notifications', __( 'Inventory notifications require the \'GW_Notification_Event\' class.' ), '1.0' );

		} else {

			$event_slug = implode( array_filter( array( 'gw_submission_limit_limit_reached', $this->_args['form_id'] ) ) );
			$event_name = GFForms::get_page() == 'notification_edit' ? __( 'Submission limit reached' ) : __( 'Event name is only populated on Notification Edit view; saves a DB call to get the form on every ' );

			$this->_notification_event = new GW_Notification_Event( array(
				'form_id'    => $this->_args['form_id'],
				'event_name' => $event_name,
				'event_slug' => $event_slug,
				//'trigger'    => array( $this, 'notification_event_listener' )
			) );

		}

	}

	public function maybe_send_limit_reached_notifications( $entry, $form ) {

		if ( $this->is_applicable_form( $form ) && $this->is_limit_reached( $form['id'] ) ) {
			$this->send_limit_reached_notifications( $form, $entry );
		}

	}

	public function send_limit_reached_notifications( $form, $entry ) {

		$this->_notification_event->send_notifications( $this->_notification_event->get_event_slug(), $form, $entry, true );

	}

	public function is_applicable_form( $form ) {

		$form_id          = isset( $form['id'] ) ? $form['id'] : $form;
		$is_specific_form = ! $this->is_global( $form_id ) ? in_array( $form_id, $this->_args['form_ids'] ) : false;

		return $this->is_global( $form_id ) || $is_specific_form;
	}

	public function is_global( $form ) {
		$form_id = isset( $form['id'] ) ? $form['id'] : $form;
		return empty( $this->_args['form_ids'] ) && ! in_array( $form_id, self::$forms_with_individual_settings );
	}

}

class GWSubmissionLimit extends GW_Submission_Limit { }

# Configuration

# Basic Usage
new GW_Submission_Limit( array(
	'form_id'       => 86,
	'limit'         => 2,
	'limit_message' => 'Aha! You have been limited.',
) );

Comments

  1. MG
    MG January 18, 2025 at 6:44 am

    Hi, Thanks for the fix to GF’s issue, I had the same in WP 6.7.1. Unfortunately, now the redirect to another page after submission doesn’t work. It returns a 500 error in the console when the Form script runs, gform.submission.handleButtonClick(this); Any idea on how to fix this? I’ve tried caching on/off, VPN using various countries. Thanks

    Reply
    1. Matt Andrews
      Matt Andrews Staff January 20, 2025 at 6:58 am

      Hi there,

      I’ve not been able to reproduce this behavior on my local site, so we’ll need to take a closer look at your configuration to see what’s going on. If you have a Gravity Perks license, please open a support ticket so we can dig into the issue further.

      Best,

  2. GF
    GF January 14, 2025 at 7:10 pm

    I am unable to get this to work. My site crashes when I try to activate the code in Code Snippets as well as adding it to the end of my Functions.php file. I’ve deactivate all plugins and still no luck. I don’t really know where to start troubleshooting WP 6.7.1

    Reply
    1. Samuel Bassah
      Samuel Bassah Staff January 15, 2025 at 6:47 am

      Hi,

      Sorry about the issue you’re experiencing. I was able to recreate the issue, and I’ve forwarded the details to our developers to look into it. We’ll update this comment when the issue is resolved.

      Best,

    2. Malay Ladu
      Malay Ladu January 15, 2025 at 11:38 pm

      Hey,

      Thank you for your patience while we worked on resolving this issue.

      The issue with the snippet has been fixed and updated the snippet.

      You can copy the latest snippet from above and use it.

      Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you encounter any issues or have any feedback!

      Best,

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