Overview

Randgen is small Windows desktop application that generates random numbers , Guids and byte arrays using a variety of techniques. It is similar in functionality to the Microsoft guidgen utility in that it copies a fresh Guid to the clipboard each time a new set of random values are generated, but it also generates many others types of random values and it's quite entertaining to watch and play with.

Basic Tab

• Random
  Values generated by the .NET Random class.
• Crypto RNG
  Values generated by the .NET cryptographically strong RandomNumberGenerator class.
• Guids
  Values generated by the .NET Guid.NewGuid method and the UuidCreateSequential Win32 API function. The Guid can be displayed in one of the four standard formats and optionally as uppercase.

Tools Tab

Various commands to operate on the random data, such as copying the history of random values to the clipboard as text, XML or JSON.

Just for idle fun there is a chart control from WPF Toolkit Data Visualisation that plots the cumulative totals and distribution of Random's NextDouble values in 10 × 0.1 slices.

Real Tab

Earlier versions of this program used to have a feature to download real random bytes from random.org and the ANU's Quantum Random Number Generator . Unfortunately, both services were placed behind paywalls with free use quotas so small that they were practically useless for hobby projects, and the feature was removed.

In July 2022 I discovered that random.org allows download of a reasonable quota of free integers (not bytes), so this tab was reinstated. You can download from 16 to 1024 real random bytes and display them as decimal or hexadecimal. You can select and copy the values.

Downloads may unpredictably fail if the daily quota is reached. In that case, a popup warning message will be displayed and the feature may be remain inoperative for about 24 hours.

Footer

Click Next to put all the algorithms through a single step to generate new values. This button is the default key in the window, so you will normally be able to hold the Enter key down and generate a rapid continuous set of new random values.

Clicking the Reseed link causes new Random and RandomNumberGenerator classes to be created with new seed values, resets all counters and generates a fresh set of values.

Screen Shots