Checking to make sure the same item can't be clicked twice in a row with jQuery / jScript

Question

So, I have a script I've been working on it can be seen here: http://xeo.tryptamine.tv/lookbook2/ Now if you play around with that script you will see if you click the image it's already on it still gets that fade effect. I need to know how to properly unbind the event and rebind it after another one is clicked. Here is the click function for it:

            $('.righticons img').click(function(){
            var z = $(this).attr("class");
            $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').hide();
            $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').css({"z-index": y});
            $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').fadeIn();
            y++;

I have tried to make an if statement something like this, but last came up undefined.

            $('.righticons img').click(function(){
            var z = $(this).attr("class");
            if (z != last){
            var last = z;
            $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').hide();
            $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').css({"z-index": y});
            $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').fadeIn();
            y++;
            };

I even started toying around with .unbind('click') but have no clue how to bind it back. PS, I have the script generating a number for each thumb on the side and appending it to the class attribute according to it's array position. Thanks for any answers!

Answer 1

There are several ways to handle this, but you can avoid binding and rebinding if you just track if this item was the last one selected:

$('.righticons img').click(function(){
    if ($(this).data('selected') !== true) {
        var z = $(this).attr("class");

        $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').hide();
        $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').css({"z-index": y});
        $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').fadeIn();

        y++;

        $(this).data('selected', true);
    }
});

Answer 2

$('.righticons img').click(function(){
    if ($(this).data('selected') !== true) {
        var z = $(this).attr("class");

        $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').hide();
        $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').css({"z-index": y});
        $('.main a img:eq('+z+')').fadeIn();
        $('.righticons img').data('selected', false)
        $(this).data('selected', true);
        y++; 
    }
});

appending false to all but $(this)