How to make an element only clickable once and the others remain clickable for an action?

Question

This is a dynamically created filter list. Clicking on the Account link opens up a modal window with a list of the account names. Clicking on an account name causes a li element to appear in the filter sidebar. The problem is you are able at this moment to click on the link more than once and created an element even if it was the same information. What I need it to do is create an li only once per account listing. I have thought about using the not () selector and adding a class at the end of the action when an account name is clicked. The issue is they all share the same class of .account which is how JQuery is carrying out the action upon click. My question is first how do I get this to work because my not () line isn't firing. Secondly, how do I get it to target only the one item that the user clicked on as opposed to all links with the class of account? This is the JSFiddle, but for some reason it doesn't want to quite work because there is a lot of code from Bootstrap from the site: http://jsfiddle.net/rsxavior/puhdE/7/

This is the relevant code I am referring to:

<li>
    <a href="#accountModal" data-toggle="modal">Accounts</a>
    <!--Start Account Sort Modal-->
    <div class="modal hide" id="accountModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="accountLabel" aria-hidden="true">
        <div class="modal-header">
            <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>
            <hgroup>
                <h4 id="accountLabel">Accounts</h4>
                <h6>(Choose an account's first letter to quickly sort)</h6>
            </hgroup>
            <ul class="nav nav-pills">
                <li><a href="#">A</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">B</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">C</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">D</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">E</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">F</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">G</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">H</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">I</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">J</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">K</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">L</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">M</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">N</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">O</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">P</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">Q</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">R</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">S</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">T</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">U</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">V</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">W</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">X</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">Y</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">Z</a></li>
            </ul>
        </div>
        <div class="modal-body">
            <ul>
                <li class="account"><a href="#">All</a></li>
                <li class="account"><a href="#">A Name</a></li>
                <li class="account"><a href="#">Another Account Name</a></li>
                <li class="account"><a href="#">Babcock Center</a></li>
            </ul> 
        </div>
        <div class="modal-footer">
            <ul class="pager">
                <li><a href="#">Prev</a></li>
                <li><a href="#">Next</a></li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </div>
    <ul class="account-hidden-li"></ul>
</li>

And the JQuery going along with it:

$('.account:not('.selected-account')').click(function () {
    $('.account-hidden-li').append('<li class="account-select">Sample Account Name<a class="close" data-dismiss="alert" href="#">&times;</a></li>');
    $('.account').addClass('selected_account');
)};

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

$(".account").click(function () {
this.unbind("click");
    $('.account-hidden-li').append('<li class="account-select">Sample Account Name<a class="close" data-dismiss="alert" href="#">&times;</a></li>');
    $('.account').addClass('selected_account');

} );