Thanks for the great example Dave, I'll spend some time with it. I did get the rand() working. Thanks, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I can't believe what my problem was. I'm still learning VC++ 6.0. I wanted to try some new code so I just replaced the code on my screen with the new code. I went to compile and evertyhing looked ok, it wasn't. I found something weird (at least I think it is weird) about VC++ 6.0, it doesn't compile what's on your screen unless you save it first. The source cpp file listed in my view folder did NOT change with the new code I typed in. VC++ compiled the cpp file listed in the view folder, not the cpp file I had open in front of me. So the code in front of me (that was all messed up) was seemingly compiling ok, in reality it was the cpp file in my folder that was compiling ok instead. I did get rand( ) to work finally. I used time(0) as the argument and it works great. Thanks much, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks Dave, I'll give it a try. I was trying to use the get_time( ) function, but didn't think of doing it the way you did. Is get_time something entirely different? Thanks much, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I'm trying to learn how to generate a random number (for a jukebox to play MIDI songs). I bought the C++ standard library reference book and it explains what rand( ) does, but I've not been able to get it to work yet. I don't see any complete examples. I have several books, but they don't talk about rand( ). I also have discovered the random_shuffle function as well, but don't know how to make it work. The biggest problem I've had so far with programming is to implement the code for the various functions. Anyway, I was hoping someone(s) would give me a simple working example of both 1. rand( ) 2. random_shuffle( ) I would appreciate it much, Thanks...Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

The following two code examples do compile, but only yield a message that says to press a key to continue. Shouldn't I see a random number "x" cout to the screen from rand ( ). What am I doing wrong here? #include <cstdlib #include <iostream> using namespace std; void main() { int x = (rand() % 150) + 1; cout< Here's the other example... `#include <cstdlib> #include <iostream> using namespace std; void main() { int x = rand() % 151; cout< Thanks, Dave :-D _"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson_`

Bob, I'm a bit confused on the rand function being a declaration. Does this mean that rand ( ) should only appear in a header file and not in the source file. How can you tell when a function is a declaration or if it belongs in the source file? Is it because of the "int" in front of rand( ) that makes it a declaration? Thanks, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks, I'll try those out. Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I'm having a hard time getting the rand function to work. I know that rand ( ) retruns a randow number, but I'm not sure how to do it? I posted some simple code below. What should be my return? Do I just pass the highest number of my range into the argument box of rand ( )? I'm looking through my books, but have found little to help me. How do I get rand( ) to work? Also, what's the difference between rand, srand and nrand. I know that srand starts a new seed sequence but am not sure what that means. #include <stdlib.h> #include <iostream.h> int main() { int x = 150; int rand (x); return ; } Thanks, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks all, I will work with your suggestions. Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I'm having trouble getting the following program to compile. I'm trying to write a program that will generate a random number (say our of 150 numbers for example). What am I doing wrong? My error message is 2601. I'm defining something wrong it appears. #include <stdlib.h> #include <iostream.h> void main() { int nrand (int n) { int x = RAND_MAX / n; int r; do r = rand() / x; while (r >= n); cout< Thanks, Dave :-D _"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson_

Thanks, I'll give it a try. :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I want to generate a random number between a specified range of 1 to 100, how can I do this? Thanks in advance, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I was hoping to find some code to generate a random number. I can use a switch statement (or an array as you mentioned), but I don't know how to generate a random number. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I'm working with the code below and want to make a jukebox. How can I play one of several songs randomly? #include stdlib.h int main() { system( "start c:\\cpp\\pickmeup.mid" ); /* or just system( "c:\\cpp\\pickmeup" ); */ return 0; } Thanks, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

Or should I say, a question about sound. The code below brings up my Windows Media Player, but I don't hear any sound. I can play other system sounds, but for some reason I don't hear any sound when I play my MIDI file. I do see the song playing, but don't hear the sound. Any ideas? #include stdlib.h int main() { system( "start c:\\cpp\\pickmeup.mid" ); /* or just system( "c:\\cpp\\pickmeup" ); */ return 0; } Thanks, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks Max :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I'm trying to work with the mciSendString, but it's new to me. I've not seen it mentioned in any of the books I have. What's it used for? Tanks!!!!! Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I re-installed VC++ and it works fine now. I don't know where the file went, but IT'S BACK!:cool: Thanks, Dave :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks, I did as you said and it worked. :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson

I am getting a pop-up error message which says, "NMSQL.DLL, This required file cannot be loaded, Please re-install Microsoft Visual C++" What does this mean? Thanks :-D

"The man who reads nothing is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."- Thomas Jefferson