I was searching on google for RNGCryptoServiceProvider with examples on how to limit the range between Max and Min, and still get an even distribution. Before I used modulo operator, but sometimes it I get strange values (above Max)...
Anyways this code (credit to unknown) seeds Random with a new seed from RNGCCryptoServiceProvider, everytime the method is called. What do you guys think?
public static int GetRandom(int min, int max)
{
byte[] b = new byte[sizeof(int)];
new System.Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider().GetBytes(b);
int i = BitConverter.ToInt32(b, 0);
Random r = new Random(i);
return r.Next(min, max);
}
You'll want to create your RNGCryptoServiceProvider
object once and then re-use that object every time you want a new random number. For instance, you can either pass said object into your GetRandom()
method or store it in a class-level field.
As far as the RNGCryptoServiceProvider
type itself, it generates good numbers on its own, there's no need to create a Random
object and pass in a seed. This should give you a very decent distribution:
public static int GetRandom(RNGCryptoServiceProvider rngProvider, int min, int max)
{
byte[] b = new byte[sizeof(UInt32)];
rngProvider.GetBytes(b);
double d = BitConverter.ToUInt32(b, 0) / (double)UInt32.MaxValue;
return min + (int)((max - min) * d);
}
There is no point in using an encryption class random generator to seed a regular random generator. (By the principle of the weakest link...) Just use a single instance of the random generator, and reuse it:
private static Random rnd = new Random();
public static int GetRandom(int min, int max) {
return rnd.Next(min, max);
}
It's a better practice to seed your random number generator just one time in your application.
I suggest you create a static class for random number generation. The random generation object can yield even distribution just by normal usage. I don't know whats the benefit of seeding the generator with RNGCryptoServiceProvider. I prefer using the time as seeding method as usual. Therefore the following code is my suggestion:
int randomNumber=Rand.get(min,max);
public static class Rand
{
private static Random rnd;
static rand()
{
rand=new Random(DateTime.Now.Ticks);
}
public static int get(int min,int max)
{
return rnd.Next(min,max);
}
}