Random Number Generator

Setup|Glossary Variables provides commands to generate random numbers for all or a select group of respondents in your data file.

_RANDOM is the WinCross reserved internal variable for storing the random number generated for each respondent.
_RANDOM_SEED n (where "n" is an initial value or "seed") - this command is optional and provides a way to always generate the same series of random numbers.
_RANDOM_HIGH n (where "n" is a numeric value) - this command is optional and assigns an upper limit for the set of random numbers being generated.
_RANDOM_LOW n (where "n" is a numeric value) - this command is optional and assigns a lower limit for the set of random numbers being generated.

You can define a variable in the glossary for storing the random number generated for each respondent or you can use the internal variable _RANDOM in WinCross logic.

For example, the following commands:

DECLARE MY_NUMBER:4

_RANDOM_SEED 1

_RANDOM_HIGH 9999

_RANDOM_LOW 1

ASSIGN MY_NUMBER = _RANDOM

will generate a random number from 1 to 9999 and assign the random number into the new variable MY_NUMBER.

If you use the Save Data As option of Setup|Glossary Variables, the MY_NUMBER variable will be added to your data file and will contain a random number between 1 and 999 for each respondent. If you use the Save Data As option more than once, the RANDOM_SEED 1 command assures that the same random number is generated for each respondent.