Generate random strings to append to UID

Question

I prefer to generate uniquely random alpha-numeric string to append to the end of my UID.

The closest I could find in the class library so far has been the Random class, which generates numbers which is the next best thing.

What I have so far is:

getNextRandomNumber
^(((rand nextValue) / 
   (Time now milliSeconds asInteger / Time now minutes asInteger 
   + (Time now hour24 asInteger)) asInteger)).

rand is a class variable, initialized as:

initialize
    rand := Random new.

This seems very poorly written. But I'm unsure of what else to do.

Answer 1

Which dialect are you using?

In Pharo, I usually implement a method in String class called something like #randomOfSize:. Something like:

String class >> randomOfSize: anInteger

^ self streamContents: [ :s | 
    anInteger timesRepeat: 
      [ s nextPut: (Character codePoint: (97 to: 122) atRandom) ] ]

You can tweak the character codes to get the interval of characters you need.

Then, to generate an 8 characters long random string you can do:

String randomOfSize: 8

In Pharo, you can also use the UUID class, as follows:

UUID new printString

Hope it helped!