If ordering entries by random along with pagination the likelyhood of displaying duplicate views of each entry across several pages is quite high (dependant on pagination limit, number of entries etc...) as opposed to impossible.

This isn’t a bug as such i.e. the pagination function works correctly, offsetting the entries query by that given amount.

What would be handy, and this is just a whim, is if the original query results were cached and the pagination offset would affect this dataset rather than running the query again on each ‘page’.

Having searched the forums i don’t see much discussion relating to these two features so understandably this is a very small request, not a matter of life or death!

- Dan

Oooh!  Seconded.  I like the idea for a portfolio because it gives older entries a chance to shine (not always being stuck at the very end). 

Of course...that may just be my bass-ackwards way of thinking…

Still, I second!  :D

I’m in for this one too…

needing this feature badly for a large activity directory, would like to give each activity equal exposure.

Iain.

I have to agree with you all on this too.

I recently worked on a site and thought it would be nice to randomise the entries. There were a lot of them so I decided to paginate them but didn’t want them to always be in the same order so tried the ‘random’ feature on them. Alas it did exactly what is being talked about here the entries would show up again and again on other pages when I had just viewed them!! :-(

Admittedly it is all working correctly but it would be nice if there was a way around this. Not really sure how this could be accomplished but would make for a nice neat little feature. The only other way I can think of doing it would be with a query to find all the entry numbers and then pass on the entry numbers viewed to the next page so that they can then be taken out of the weblog tag parameter!!

Phew that would take a little work but would probably do it for now though although if the EE crew could find a way around this then that would be much better.

Best wishes,

Mark

Mmmm, a persistent session ‘cache’ for modules to store variables across page-loads? I’m getting this overwhelming feeling of deja-vu ;]

bah…

how about a custom creating a custom field which contains a ‘seed’, and a daily cron to whip through all the entries and assign each ‘seed’ field a random character - a to z… then ordering results by that field/character…

Has this got legs?

My entry count is getting big and displaying 100+ entries on a page (for fairness) is bordering on sillyness…

Thought I’d bump this again with an added “Developer’s Eye View” reference:

I’m implementing a lot of business directory type sites, sometimes mini directories within larger sites that can contain between 5 to 150 listings.

Problem is, the agencies that are engaging me to do the work want to equally promote all listings within the directory. (A fair enough request).

In order to do this, they request listings be displayed in a random order for each visitor.

So, I’m crying like a small child who’s had their favourite toy run over by a steam roller, watching a page with 150 listings load on a single page with each image popping open and my scrollbar having a fit for 25 seconds before coming to rest.

please, for the love of EE, can we have randomised, paginated results…

Iain.

Hell, Ill bump this again. I am also having a fit with a product listing which is getting well over 50 and to show them all on one page is just excruciatingly painful.

Please EE, hook us up.