SetRandomSeed()

Summary

Seeds the RandomNumber() function.

Syntax

SetRandomSeed(integer seed_value)

Notes

• You can call SetRandomSeed() with a particular seed value, which will always create the same sequence of random numbers. This is useful when testing a procedure, so that results will be comparable.

• To get different results every time your macro is run, you need to feed a "random" seed to SetRandomSeed(). The best way to generate good seed values is by using a time and/or date function, such as GetDateAndTime().

• When the platform is initialized there is a call to SetRandomSeed() with a "random" seed based on the current time, so you do not need to call SetRandomSeed() to ensure randomness.

Example

// Use current time in seconds past midnight as the random seed

t = GetDateAndTime() // For example, "Wed Oct 19 10:48:42 1994"

x = ParseString(t, " ") // {"Wed", "Oct", "19", "10:48:42", "1994"}

y = ParseString(x[4], ":") // hh:mm:ss -> {"hh","mm","ss"}

Seconds = s2i(y[1])*3600+s2i(y[2])*60+s2i(y[3]) // Seconds past midnight

SetRandomSeed(Seconds)

See Also