ASP.NET MVC - How to get random records from model?

Question

Hello there, I don't know if there is an easy way to do it but basically what I would like to do is:

var highlights = db.Banners.Where(h => h.Category == "highlight").ToList().GetRange(0,4);

I have this model Banners where I have some highlights but I would like to retrieve just 4 random highlights each time in different order.

So the code I'm using just retrieve a range from [0..4] highlights and if you have less than 4, it returns an error, and they are not randomised.

Any ideas on how could I do it easily?

The result I would like to have is a List<Banner> to pass it to the view but each time with different order like:

[1,3,4,2] || [2,1,4,3] || [12,32,15,3]

I think that's it :)

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

Here is an example of Random LINQ sampling on codeproject

Best of luck,

Dan

Answer 2

To randomize banners and get first four or less you could do this:

Random r = new Random(DateTime.Now.Ticks);

var highlights = db.Banners.Where(h => h.Category == "highlight").
    OrderBy(h => r.Next()).Take(4)