Picking a random member of a Type List

Let me introduce a problem,

I have a tlist that contains all my boss_fragment instances. The name of the tlist is called boss_fragment_list. I need to pick any instance from that list at random and tell it to proform a spawn() function how would this be done?

Thanks in advance.

you know how big the list is (List.Count) so you can make a random number from 1 to Count. Then loop through the list with For m:MyType = Each In MyList and keep a counter incrementing each time and when the counter is the same as the precalculated random number, use Exit to break out of the list and m is set to the random type.

Hope that makes sense.

Ok thanks, sometimes I tend to overcomplicatte things.

Or just use ValueAtIndex.

Agree with Perturbatio

Local P1:TParticle=TParticle(ParticleList.ValueAtIndex(A))

ValueatIndex uses a loop too, so bare in mind it will be as slow as the first method

be nice if you could go straight to index A ....

you could always use an array like this

Well I will be having hundreds of objects checking each other at once so optomizations are very important.

Ryan: Use my IList code if you'll be having hundreds of objects. It's much faster if you're sorting or getting an object at a specific index.

Using my code you can do pretty much the same thing as with TLists for getting objects at a specific index:

Local f:Foo = Foo(MyList.ValueAtIndex( Rand( 0, MyList.Count( )-1 ) ))

That looks good, Noel...What type should I use for what sort of problems?

I use hash tables for storing data over long periods of time (it pretty much ensures that the data is going to stay in memory since it's going to have a reference until I remove it from the table). Binary trees.. Um, yeah, not sure what you'd use those for, I just wrote it for fun. And you can probably find some use for a linked list where others fail.

Thanks, Noel

Yes, thanks Noel, do you wish to be credited in my game?
P.S. Lego for the win!!

No, don't care.

Actually speed isn't important in this case here is my function.

It says Compile Error: Unable to convert from 'boss_fragment' to 'Int'

Function choose_cell()
	Local member%=Rand(1,CountList(boss_fragment.boss_fragment_list))
	Local counter%=0
	For Local i:boss_fragment=EachIn(boss_fragment.boss_fragment_list)
	 counter:+1
		If counter=member
			Return i
			Exit
		End If
	Next
End Function

Function choose_cell:boss_fragment()