How to get 3 random rows each time page is refreshed?

Question

I have the following code:

<?php $i = 0; ?>

    <?php foreach ($this->getMyCollection() as $faqItem): ?>
        <a class="anchor" href="<?php echo Mage::getBaseUrl(Mage_Core_Model_Store::URL_TYPE_WEB) ?>faq#<?php echo $i ?>"><?php echo $this->htmlEscape($faqItem->getQuestion()) ?></a><br>
    <?php
        $i++;
        if($i>2)break;
    ?>
    <?php endforeach; ?>

But what I want to show is three different rows each time a page is refreshed. How do I do that?

Answer 1

Try this:

With array_rand you can pass an array, and define the number of results you want. It will return the given number of keys you want to use.

<?php $i = 0;
$items = $this->getMyCollection();
$keys = array_rand($items, 3);
foreach ($keys as $key): 
{

    $faqItem = $items[$key];
?>

    <a class="anchor" href="<?php echo Mage::getBaseUrl(Mage_Core_Model_Store::URL_TYPE_WEB) ?>faq#<?php echo $i ?>"><?php echo $this->htmlEscape($faqItem->getQuestion()) ?></a><br>
<?php
    $i++;
} ?>

Or option 2, use the Shuffle function:

<?php foreach (shuffle($this->getMyCollection()) as $faqItem): ?>
    <a class="anchor" href="<?php echo Mage::getBaseUrl(Mage_Core_Model_Store::URL_TYPE_WEB) ?>faq#<?php echo $i ?>"><?php echo $this->htmlEscape($faqItem->getQuestion()) ?></a><br>
<?php
    $i++;
    if($i>2)break;
?>
<?php endforeach; ?>