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Random Selection

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steelej

Jul 31, 2015 @ 02:02 PM

I have a page of tips for users. Is there a way in Velocity to randomly select one of those tips for display on another page and have it change each time the page is published?

1. 1 Posted by Ryan Griffith on Jul 31, 2015 @ 06:58 PM

   

   Hi Jim,

   You can use the Math Tool's random method to generate a random number. To summarize, you would:

   • obtain your array of tips using the XPath Tool or Locator Tool (depending on how you are accessing the structured data)
   • generate a random number (ie index)

     #set ( $random = $_MathTool.random(0 , $_MathTool.sub($tips.size(), 1)) )
     

   • get the tip at the random index

     $tips.get($random)
     

   Please let me know if you have any questions.

   Thanks!

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2. 2 Posted by steelej on Jul 31, 2015 @ 08:49 PM

   

   Ryan,
   Thanks. I haven’t worked much with the math tool. This operates exactly as I wanted it to.

   Jim

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3. 3 Posted by Ryan Griffith on Jul 31, 2015 @ 08:51 PM

   

   Not a problem at all, Jim, glad to hear the snippet helped out.

   I'm going to go ahead and close this discussion, please feel free to comment or reply to re-open if you have any additional questions.

   Have a great day!

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4. Ryan Griffith closed this discussion on Jul 31, 2015 @ 08:51 PM.