I'm using Python and Flask to display a randomized game board, and trying to allow people to return to the same game by using a seed.
However, whether I use a random seed, or specify a seed, I seem to get the same pseudorandom sequences.
I cut out the majority of my code (I do a lot of splitting and joining with numpy) but even the simple code below shows the bug: no matter what value of seed I give the form, the number displayed on submit is the same. Submitting the form without specifying the seed shows a different number, but despite showing different seed values on reloading, that other number is always the same as well.
Am I doing something wrong with seeding?
from flask import Flask, request, render_template
import numpy as np
import random
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route( '/' )
def single_page():
return render_template( 'page.html', title = 'empty form' )
@app.route( '/number', methods = [ 'POST', 'GET' ] )
def render_page( title = 'generated random number', error = [] ):
error = []
if request.method == 'POST':
if request.form['seed'].isdigit():
seed = int( request.form['seed'] )
error.append( "seed set: " + str( seed ) + "." )
np.random.seed( seed/100000 )
else:
seed = int( 100000 * random.random() )
error.append( "seed not set, " + str( seed ) + " instead." )
np.random.seed( seed/100000 )
n = np.random.random() * 100;
return render_template('page.html', title=title, error=error, n=n, seed=seed )
else:
return render_template( 'page.html', title = 'empty form' )
if __name__ == '__main__':
app.debug = True
app.run()
Here is the flask HTML template
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head><title>{{title}}</title>
</head>
<body>
{% if error != '' %}
{% for message in error %}
<h2>{{message}}</h2>
{% endfor %}
{% endif %}
{% if n %}
<h2>Random number is {{n}}</h2>
<h6>seed = {{ seed }}</h6>
{% else %}
<div id="form">
<form id="the_form" method="POST" action="number">
Seed: <input type="number" min="1" max="99999" id="seed" name="seed"><br>
<button id="submit" type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
{% endif %}
</div>
</body>
</html>
I multiply and divide the seeds by 100,000 so as to give a more memorable value (say, 4231 instead of 4.231479094...). Is there is a better way to have usable integer seed values?
UPDATED: Yes, there is a better way to do integer seed values - not mess with dividing at all. For the time being this is what I'm doing:
import numpy as np
import random
.
.
.
if request.form['seed'].isdigit():
seed = int( request.form['seed'] )
error.append( "seed set: " + str( seed ) + "." )
random.seed( seed )
else:
seed = int( 100000 * np.random.random() )
error.append( "seed not set, " + str( seed ) + " instead." )
random.seed( seed )
n = random.random() * 100;
return render_template('page.html', title=title, error=error, n=n, seed=seed )
This works fine. np.random.seed() didn't seem to always get the same sequence, but random.seed() doesn't mind an integer, so I'm using the latter.