Question

Can someone point me in the right direction please:

How can i provide this query back in random order?

musiccursor = getActivity().getContentResolver().query(
MediaStore.Audio.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI, 
musicdata, 
selection,
dirs, 
MediaColumns.DATA+ " asc");

I have tried replacing “asc” with various things, including Random(), RAND….i’m stumped

Answer 1

For the record, this is how i implemented the solution:

if(isShuffle){
// shuffle is on - play a random song
 sortOrder = "RANDOM()";
 } 
else{
sortOrder = MediaColumns.DATA+ " asc";   
}

...

//run the query          
musiccursor = ctx.getContentResolver().query(MediaStore.Audio.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI, 
musicdata, 
selection,
dirs,
sortOrder);

By doing this I can throw a randomly ordered cursor to a list view. The user gets to see the random play list order, rather than just randomly selecting the next song “in secret” that most apps do.