Handy Randy for iPhone

Handy Randy™ for iPhone

from Stevens Creek Software

Handy Randy from Stevens Creek Software is a full-featured random number generator, allowing you to draw both numbers and names at random in a variety of configurations suitable for different applications.

The Main Screen

The main screen of the software looks like this, and should be self-explanatory:

From top to bottom, we see the most recently drawn "winner" (71 in this example), a scrolling list of the most recently drawn winners (with the most recent on top), a Clear button to erase the list, a Sort button to sort the list, an Info button (light-colored "i" in a circle) which is used to adjust the settings, a description of the current settings, and a large Draw button to initiate the selection of a new winner or winners (10 at a time in this example).

The Adjust Settings Screen

Tap the Info button to display the Adjust Settings screen, on which you adjust the criteria used for the selection. Here's what it might look like:

From top to bottom, we have:

Done returns to the main screen to allow drawing more numbers or names.

Draw Numbers/Names selects between choosing numbers and names.

Choose N number(s) at a time lets you adjust how many random numbers (or names) are chosen with each tap of the Draw button on the main screen. If you want to draw 50 random numbers or names, you don't need to draw them one at a time!

From...To sets the limits for the selection of numbers.

+ lets you add additional ranges (discussed below).

0–9 Keys (along with the backspace and erase buttons) are used to enter numbers into the different fields above. The "active field," the one on which the keys operate, is highlighted with a green outline. In the example above, the Choose field is highlighted, so tapping the numeric keys will change that number. To switch the active field, just tap on the one you want to change.

Allow duplicates controls whether the software allows the selection of numbers or names which have already been selected, or not. In the example above, with duplicates allowed, you can draw an indefinitely large number of numbers. If Allow duplicates were set to Off, then you could only draw 100 numbers, at which point you would have drawn all the numbers from 1 to 100 and no more would be possible.

Play sound turns on and off the playing of a "drumroll" sound announcing the new winner(s). If you draw more than one number or name at a time, the sound only plays once, not N times!

Send email (the small stamped envelope icon) lets you email the list of winning numbers or names. If you tap the button, you'll be asked to confirm that that is what you want to do; if you answer Yes, you'll be transferred to the iPhone's email software, with the body of an email filled in with your list of winners.

Read manual (the book icon with the Stevens Creek Software logo on the "cover") takes you to the online manual (this manual!). if you tap the button, you'll be asked to confirm that that is what you want to do; if you answer Yes, you'll be transferred to the iPhone's Safari software and the manual will be displayed.

Drawing Names

If you select Names instead of Numbers on the top of the settings screen, a "picker" will slide onto the screen, showing a list of the various "groups" that you have created in your Address Book (Mac desktop) or Contacts (iPhone) software, along with the word "All." Select a group and names will only be drawn from within that group (perhaps one particular class of students if you are a teacher); select "All" and names will be selected from your entire Contact list. As with numbers, you can select one at a time, or multiple names at a time.

Using Multiple Ranges

There are times when you need to pick random numbers from multiple ranges. In a running race, for example, the elite runners may be wearing numbers 1-25, the 10K runners numbers 100 to 575, and the 5K runners numbers 1000 to 1250. Now if you want to award a "door prize" to someone at random, you need to select a number from one of those three ranges with equal probability. Here's how you do it. First, tap the + button seen in the screen above just below the word "From." That will add one range, and the screen will now look like this:

A second range appears and the + next to that range changes to a –, and another + button appears. Tapping the – button will eliminate the second range, returning to a single range only. Tapping the + button will reveal a third range, like this:

Now you see a – sign next to the third range only, because if you want to eliminate ranges, you always have to eliminate the last one (the third if there are three ranges, the second if there are only two). Now that you have the number of ranges you want, change the From/To values of the ranges by tapping in the respective boxes and entering the desired numbers to adjust the ranges as desired (1-25, 100-575, 1000-1250 in the example above).

Incidentally, if you accidentally enter numbers in the wrong order (the "to" number is lower than the "from" number), the software will rearrange them. If you accidentally enter ranges which overlap (e.g., range two is 100 to 300, and range three is 200 to 400), the software will automatically combine them into a single range.

Alternating Ranges

Any time there is more than one range, an additional option button appears on the screen: Combine Ranges/Alternate Ranges. The discussion in the previous section assumed you had the selection set to Combine Ranges, which selects a number or numbers from the different ranges as if they were one large range (but with gaps where no number is allowed).

There is another way to draw numbers from multiple ranges, and that is by alternating them by tapping the Alternate Ranges button. If you select Alternate Ranges, then the ranges are used in turn, so in the picture below, the first pick will occur using the range 1 to 10, the second pick will use the range 1 to 100 (note that overlapped ranges are perfectly permissable in this mode), the third pick will again use the range 1 to 10, and so on.

Using Alternate Ranges insures that equal numbers are drawn from each group, so in the race example above, it would draw an equal number of winners from the 1-25 group, the 100-575 group, and the 1000-1250 group. Or you might use one of the "ranges" to represent a particular prize: 1 for the best prize, 10 for the least expensive, with the second range representing the winner of that prize. Or you might use one number to represent a chapter and the second a verse for a random Bible reading.

If you have two ranges, and you pick two numbers at a time in the Alternate Ranges mode, then the two are displayed on the screen as pairs, like this:

In this example, three pairs of numbers have already been drawn, with the most recent pair being 1 and 25 as shown on top. Likewise if you have three ranges and draw three numbers at a time, the numbers are displayed as "triplets" (e.g., "17-252-1051").

Persistance

Your settings and your previously drawn winners are always saved when you leave the program and restored when you return; use the Clear button when you want to start with a clean slate.

Customization

Beginning with version 1.1, the iPhone Settings application has two customization settings for Handy Randy. Sound lets you choose from a series of sounds to play to announce the winner, and Background lets you choose from a series of background colors for the application.

[NOTE: The "Email To:" setting is only present beginning in version 1.1 of Handy Randy. Version 1.1 has been released internally at Stevens Creek Software and provided to Apple, but is still pending uploading by Apple to the App Store]

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