Generating Random Numbers in VB.NET

[SammyB]

These are some "random" thoughts about generating random numbers in Visual Basic.

Wikipedia will give a better introduction than I, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_number_generator.

The key point is that you need to start the random number generator with a seed. Doing it in the form load with the number of milliseconds since midnight is an easy way to start.

The VB.Net version

This demo project will be as simple as I can make it. It consists of a form with one button. Every time you push the button, a MsgBox will pop-up with a random number between 1 and 10. This code is for VB.NET and was created with VB.NET 2005 Express Edition.

Start a new project and double click the button in the toolbox to add a button to the form. Double-click the button to see the code outline:

Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    End Sub
End Class

Replace that code with:

Public Class Form1
    Private oRand As Random
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        oRand = New Random(DateTime.Now.Millisecond)
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim iRand As Integer
        iRand = oRand.Next(1, 10)
        MsgBox(iRand)
    End Sub
End Class

Notice the following key items:

1. oRand is the Random number Generator and is defined at the module level
2. oRand is initialized once in the Form Load event using the millisecong component of the current time.
3. The Next method of the Random object generates a new number.