Re: dbms_random question

Pavel Vetesnik wrote:
> OK,
> so I've changed the code to this:
>
> ============================
> nMagic NUMBER(11);
>
> dbms_random.initialize(TO_NUMBER(TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'SSSSS')));
> nMagic:=dbms_random.random;
> dbms_random.terminate;
> ============================
>
> Then the numbers seems to change. But my question is - is this the correct
> way, how the generator should be used?
>
> Pavel
>

Based on your code sample, NO that is not the way to use random(). Why? Well, you are resetting the sequence everytime you call initialize(). The seed provides a way to start, and with a fixed value as you had in the original version, you always get the same first random number.

And you are using this to make a PASSWORD? You'll actually be better off using just the SYSDATE. Or make the user select some unique password.

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