executing a random command in a batch file

[Halfmad]

Hi all,

Not entirely sure this is possible but essentially what I'd like to do is have my login script pick one of 5 lines and execute it.

My idea was using a command to pick a random number (1-5) then calling in one of five external batch files (named batch1.bat, batch2.bat etc) and running it.

Possible? It's just a bit of fun to randomise pupil desktops with BGInfo

[mattx]

You will have to try and fiddle around with the %Random% global variable - I am sure something could be done - I did a random 6 letter thing in AutoIT. You are welcome to edit and mess around with it to suit your requirements:

; AutoIt Version:  	3.00
; Language:        	English
; Platform:        	WinXP
; Author:          	Matt 
; Script Function: 	Random Letters Generator For Possible Password Use

$__msgbox = MsgBox(4, 'Random Letter Generator By Matt', 'This Will Generate 6 Random Letters For You, Continue?')
if ($__msgbox = 7) Then
   Exit
EndIf
SplashTextOn("Random Letter Generator By Matt", "Thinking Of 6 Letters, Please Wait...", 300, 75)
Sleep(3000)
Dim $i = 0, $word = ""
For $i = 1 To 6
   If Random() < 0.5 Then
      $Letter = Chr(Random(Asc("A"), Asc("Z")))
   Else
      $Letter = Chr(Random(Asc("a"), Asc("z")))
   EndIf
   $word = $word & $Letter
Next
Splashoff()
Msgbox(64, "Your Random Letters Are:", $word)

[mattx]

Just checking, a certain Rob van der Woude [ I must E-mail and thank him one day for his excellent website I have been using for years ] has done something which may help. Check out:

http://www.robvanderwoude.com/batexamples_r.html#R

[Halfmad]

Cheers Matt, looks good! *bookmarks site*

[Halfmad]

Hi chaps here's what I hacked together from the link Matt gave me, just tested it and it appears to work.
--------------------------------------
@ECHO OFF
ECHO.
IF NOT [%1]==[] GOTO Syntax
VER | FIND "Windows 2000" >NUL
IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO Start
VER | FIND "Windows XP" >NUL
IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO Start

:Start
SET NAT=%Random%
IF [%NAT%]==[] GOTO Syntax
IF %NAT% GTR 5 SET /A NAT = 1%NAT:~-1% -10
rem SET NAT

IF '%NAT%'=='0' GOTO Nat0
IF '%NAT%'=='1' GOTO Nat1
IF '%NAT%'=='2' GOTO Nat0
IF '%NAT%'=='3' GOTO Nat1
IF '%NAT%'=='4' GOTO Nat0
IF '%NAT%'=='5' GOTO Nat1
IF '%NAT%'=='6' GOTO Nat0
IF '%NAT%'=='7' GOTO Nat1
IF '%NAT%'=='8' GOTO Nat0
IF '%NAT%'=='9' GOTO Nat1

Else goto Nat0

goto end

:Nat0
"\\staff\NETLOGON\wallpapers\bginfo.exe" "\\staff\NETLOGON\wallpapers\Startup.bgi" /timer:0
GOTO End

:Nat1
"\\staff\NETLOGON\wallpapers\bginfo.exe" "\\staff\NETLOGON\wallpapers\Startup2.bgi" /timer:0
GOTO End

:End

---------------------------------

Obviously you could have it randomising up to 10 different BGinfo setups but at the moment I only have two and have gotten side tracked as always! If I'm right the "else goto nat 0" shouldn't be needed as it can only produce results from 0-9, but I've been wrong before!

[mattx]

God, I miss using GOTO commands.......... :-)

[Halfmad]

yeah I should stop using the login batch files but you can have so much fun with them mate

[Iain]

A possible vbscript solution could be:

random.vbs:

Dim objShell, intOption

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Randomize()
intOption = Int(5*Rnd())

Select Case intOption
	Case 0
		' Option 1
		objShell.Run "batch1.bat"
	Case 1
		' Option 2
		objShell.Run "batch2.bat"
	Case 2
		' Option 3
		objShell.Run "batch3.bat"
	Case 3
		' Option 4
		objShell.Run "batch4.bat"
	Case 4
		' Option 5
		objShell.Run "batch5.bat"
End Select

Set objShell = Nothing

Iain

[mattx]

I wonder how many of us have written Lottery Number Generators ?
Last count I had done 3 - sad :downtown:

[Friez]

In PHP:

<?php 
$num = array();

for($i=1;$i<=49;$i++)
{
    array_push($num,$i);
}

shuffle($num);

echo "<h1>Sad Little Lottery Generator for mattx</h1>
";

for($i=0;$i<6;$i++)
{
    echo $num[$i] . " ";
}

echo "

Powered By Geekiness(tm)";


?>

Victory is mine!

[Halfmad]

I knew someone was going to do that!

[Friez]

I knew someone was going to do that!

It had to be done TBH!

[Zabu]

Here is a pretty flexible solution for running random files. It looks through a specified folder and picks a file at random out of the list of files in that folder. That way it works if you have 1 file in the folder or 100.

dim arrImages(5000)
strSourceFolder = "c:\FolderWithBatchFiles"
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objWshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

'Get a list of all of the files in the folder
set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strSourceFolder)
Set colBatchFolder = objFolder.Files
For Each objBatchFile in colBatchFolder
arrBatchFiles(i) = objBatchFile.Name
i=i+1
Next
' Create a random number from 0 to i
Randomize
intRandomNumber = Int(rnd* i)
'Run that puppy
WshShell.Run arrBatchFiles(intRandomNumber)

A good check would be to look at the file extension before tossing it into the array to make sure that it was a .bat file.
I originally made it to look through my pictures and toss a random one into the registry as my wallpaper, but ran into problems with XP not refreshing it. Because I converted it, the variable names are probably a little wonky.

Another way would be a modification of what was posted above. Generate a random number from 1 to 5 and then use a case statement. Rather than going to an external file the case statement would call 1 of 5 subroutines that would run the part of the logon script that provides individualization. If needed, any common elements can be meted out to users either before or after that part runs.

Have a great day.