Question

what I’m trying to do is everytime the program opens the image on a form is different. So I have a simple table with 2 columns ID and ImagePath, how do I create the code so a random record(ImagePath) is chosen, on a form load event or something similar? Rnd is no good, as it will be the same image everytime the database is reopened.

Thanks!

Answer 1

See this article by Susan Harkins on TechRepublic: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/howdoi/how-do-i-retrieve-a-random-set-of-records-in-microsoft-access/149

I used her GetRandomValue function in this query, which returns a different record each time.

SELECT TOP 1 f.id, GetRandomValue(f.id) AS rnd_value
FROM tblFoo AS f
ORDER BY 2;

The function:

Public Function GetRandomValue(fld As Variant)

  Randomize

  GetRandomValue = Rnd(1)

End Function

Caution: This approach requires running a function against every row of the table. It may be tolerable for small to medium tables. But you should not use it with very large tables.