helmut wrote:Sounds like a good idea to me. A place holder <random number> might give even more flexibility, though. The question is: What is the use case for the random number? Just random sorting or more?
The first thing that comes to mind is to capture a specific (favored) "random" order for a slideshow.
Currently, the slide show random option shows the slides in a different order each time (of course). I have found that sometimes a specific "random" sequence is more appealing than others.
Suppose the XnView Browser had a "Randomize" function AND either a "Capture sequence to filename" function OR a "Capture sequence to slide show" function. The user could continually execute the Randomize function until the thumbs appeared in a preferred sequence. Then, executing the "Capture random order to filename" would embed the sequence into the filenames (which could then be passed to the slideshow for further refinement), or executing "Capture sequence to slide show" would automatically arrange the slides in the order shown in the Browser and display the slide show dialog with the slides already arranged.
I personally find these approaches more appealing than placing a "freeze current random order" function into the slideshow dialog itself because, in the Browser, one can see whether a particular random order is appealing "at a glance", whereas if the same function was only in the slideshow dialog, one must actually view the slideshow (a more time-consuming activity).
In any case, a random value is necessary, as well as a method of reseeding...
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