[SOLVED] Randomly displaying an array

[rachelk]

I'm a beginner at php so I apologise if I'm not making much sense here!

 

I have an array that I'd like to be ordered randomly (not just ordered randomly and then stuck that way forever, but shuffled on each visit). The array is paginated though, so if I use the "shuffle ($objects)" function, when I go to the second page everything is shuffled all over again and sometimes the objects that appeared on the first page also appear on the subsequent page.. I'm wondering if there was any way to prevent this happening?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[vineld]

Unless the user is logged in you might want to identify the visitor by setting a session variable upon the first visit. That way you can recognize him / her by checking for the session variable and if it is set, don't reshuffle the array.

[rachelk]

Thanks for your help! Would this be right?

 

 

<?php 

session_start();
$_SESSION['visited'] = {true}

if(isset($_SESSION['visited'])){ }
else {shuffle ($objects)}

?>

[vineld]

You can not set the session variable prior to your check, then you will never shuffle since it will always be set 

[rachelk]

Got it, thanks for your help, it works!