Random Stuff

newfew

Hi. I have been browsing for about a week and today I got the courage to ask for help.

I'm trying to update a database with a random number range.

Here is the code I'm trying to change:

$DB->query("UPDATE " . DB_PREFIX . "$table SET totalviews=totalviews+1 WHERE $column='$content_id' LIMIT 1");

Instead of incrementing by 1, I want it to increment in a range between 3 and 11 randomly.

Today was my first time trying to do anything in php. I spent hours on the net searching and tried so many different things I'm starting to wonder if it can be done.

If anyone can copy the above code and paste it in their comments with the ncessary changes to do what I want, it would be appreciated.

Thanks

NogDog

[man]rand/man

$randomIncrement = rand(3, 11);

Then use that in your query.

newfew

thanks for your reply. Sorry, I'm so new with this stuff. Exactly where I put your code in the following code:

$DB->query("UPDATE " . DB_PREFIX . "$table SET totalviews=totalviews+1 WHERE $column='$content_id' LIMIT 1");

NogDog

Well, let's think about it. The line of code I provided will assign a random value between 3 and 11 (inclusive) to the variable $randomIncrement. Instead of doing totalviews=totalviews+1 in your query, you want to do totalviews=totalviews+<a random number between 3 and 11 here>. So, how do you think you might do that? 😉

(Figuring something out for yourself is the best way to remember what you learn, so I'm trying to avoid totally spoon-feeding it to you.)

newfew

I spent the day with trial and error and all I got was errors 🙂. So I'm going to give a shot and say this is how I would code it:

$DB->query("UPDATE " . DB_PREFIX . "$table SET totalviews=totalviews+$randomIncrement = rand(3, 11); WHERE $column='$content_id' LIMIT 1");

Did I get it? Part of me want to say I had something similar to this in my search today but I did not get it right. I got one of those errors, but not sure. I tried so many things 🙂

NogDog

Just remember to add the line of code that assigns the rand() result to the variable before you then use that variable in your query. (There are ways you could call the rand() function while creating the SQL query string, but that might be a bit more confusing. Alternatively, you could even just generate the random number within the SQL itself, though it's a bit messier than the PHP function -- all going to show that there's almost always more than one way to do it.)

newfew

Thank you. I'm going to try the code tomorrow when I'm not so tired. I hope I can get it right 🙂

newfew

hello

I got up this morning, tried it and it worked.

Thank you for your help.

NogDog

It's always easier with a fresh brain. 🙂