Multiple mt_rand in same script

2 Views

I have a random comment script for WordPress that I’ve been using as a widget. It has worked fine for showing just one comment but now I need it to show three. I tried just adding new variables and output copying the existing code but the possibility of it generating the same comment multiple times is a lot more often than I thought it would be. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Here’s the original code for showing just one comment:

<div style="width:276px;margin:0 15px">
<h2>Testimonials</h2>
<div style="background:rgba(65, 115, 148, 0.3);border-radius:0 0 6px 6px;height:265px;border:1px solid #ddd;box-shadow:0 0 3px #fff;padding:5px;overflow-y:auto">

<?php
   $post_id = 276;  // Put the 'testimonials' id here
   $comments = get_comments("post_id=$post_id&status=approve");
   if ($comments) {
     $ndx = mt_rand(2,sizeof($comments)) - 1;
     $comment = $comments[$ndx];
?>

<p style="margin-bottom:20px">
<span style="float:left;margin-right:3px"><?php echo get_avatar($comment->comment_author_email, 48, $default, $alt ); ?></span>
    <?php
        if (empty($comment->comment_author)){echo "$comment->comment_author";}
        else{echo "<a href='$comment->comment_author_url'>$comment->comment_author</a>";}
    ?>
 - <?php echo "$comment->comment_date"; ?><br />
<?php echo "$comment->comment_content"; ?></p>
<span style="float:right;margin-right:3px;"><?php echo "$comment1->extra_sitename"; ?></span>

<?php } ?>

</div>
</div>
Post Views: 2

Related posts

Leave a Reply

2 comments

  1. Perhaps another approach.
    Lets say you construct an array of available comments ids.

    $commIDs = array(4,34,56,76,100); // comment id from database

    Then you can use array_rand() to get 3 random ids of this array.

    $choosenIDs = array_rand($commIDs, 3);

    Then you can get your data from db based on selected ids.
    Is this close to what you look for?

    EDIT: 2nd solution
    You can get 3 random records directly from database.

    Select field FROM table WHERE field2='$value' ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 3;

  2. If we “unset” the chosen random value from the array, we can select another one without fear of duplication. Note that I’m starting mt_rand from zero and subtracting 1 from sizeof.

    <?php
$pid = get_the_ID();
$comments = get_comments("post_id=$pid&status=approve");
if ($comments) {       
    $ndx = mt_rand( 0, sizeof( $comments ) -1 );
    $comment = $comments[$ndx];
    array_splice( $comments, $ndx, 1 );

    $ndx = mt_rand( 0, sizeof( $comments ) -1 );
    $comment = $comments[$ndx];
    array_splice( $comments, $ndx, 1 );

    $ndx = mt_rand( 0, sizeof( $comments ) -1 );
    $comment = $comments[$ndx];
    // array_splice( $comments, $ndx, 1 ); // only needed if you'll keep showing comments
}
?>