well 105 will be displayed for #1.
as for #2 and #3 is will grab as in first come first serve manner. so only pictures 034 and 142 will be displayed every time.
I want it to be random if it has the same rank....
Can anyone help.??
Thanks
where the item being consider is equal in rank to that currently in the given rank, you should add in a 50/50 random decision to choose between keeping the current item with the given rank and replacing with the item under consideration.
for example (i don't know how to generate random numbers in php:
.....#FIND THE TOP 3 PICTURES
$max_rank = 0;
$max_pic_path = undef;
$max_array_location = 0;
$mid_rank = 0;
$mid_pic_path = undef;
$mid_array_location = 0;
$low_rank = 0;
$low_pic_path = undef;
$low_array_location = 0;
for ($n=0;$n < $#rank + 1 ;$n++) {
#true if new #1 rank > old #1 rank
#true half of the time if equal...
if ((@rank[$n] > $max_rank)
||(@rank[$n] = $max_rank && rnd()<0.5)) {
#set #3 to #2
$low_rank = $mid_rank;
$low_pic_path = $mid_pic_path;
$low_array_location = $mid_array_location;
#set #2 to #1
$mid_rank = $max_rank;
$mid_pic_path = $max_pic_path;
$mid_array_location = $max_array_location;
#set #1 to highest
$max_rank = @rank[$n];
$max_pic_path = @pic[$n];
$max_array_location = $n;
}
#true if new #2 rank > old #2 rank but < #1 rank
#true half of the time if equal...
elsif ((@rank[$n] > $mid_rank)
|| (@rank[$n] = $mid_rank && rnd()<0.5)) {
#set #3 to #2
$low_rank = $mid_rank;
$low_pic_path = $mid_pic_path;
$low_array_location = $mid_array_location;
#set #2 to #1
$mid_rank = @rank[$n];
$mid_pic_path = @pic[$n];
$mid_array_location = $n;
}
#true if new #1 rank > old #1 rank but < #2 rank
#true half of the time if equal...
elsif ((@rank[$n] > $low_rank)
|| (@rank[$n] = $low_rank && rnd()<0.5)) {
#set #3 rank
$low_rank = @rank[$n];
$low_pic_path = @pic[$n];
$low_array_location = $n;
}
}.....
The above needs to be refined to ensure that the three ranks are filled if empty ... without any random testing but your initial values may well do that (i haven't looked too closely)
you may want to think about it a bit / run a few tests to see how uniformly random this is (run with large data set of identical ranks and observe how your ranks turn out etc. )
The above will, I think, favour (quite heavily?) items later in the list. I think this idea might be unbiased.
As each item is read in, assign it a random number selected from a uniform distribution over a given range ... rand() or rnd() or rnd(1), i guess, will yield such.
Then, in the case of equality of rank, compare the random numbers to decide which to keep in the given rank.
I'll have a go at implementing this (again with my rnd() function which should be replaced with whatever is the php equivalent)
.....#FIND THE TOP 3 PICTURES
$max_rank = 0;
$max_rand = 1; # initialise to maximum possible value
$max_pic_path = undef;
$max_array_location = 0;
$mid_rank = 0;
$mid_rand = 1; # initialise to maximum possible value
$mid_pic_path = undef;
$mid_array_location = 0;
$low_rank = 0;
$low_rand = 1; # initialise to maximum possible value
$low_pic_path = undef;
$low_array_location = 0;
for ($n=0;$n < $#rank + 1 ;$n++) {
$rand=rnd();
#true if new #1 rank > old #1 rank
#random decision if equal...
if ((@rank[$n] > $max_rank)
||(@rank[$n] == $max_rank && $rand<$max_rand)) {
#set #3 to #2
$low_rank = $mid_rank;
$low_rand = $mid_rand;
$low_pic_path = $mid_pic_path;
$low_array_location = $mid_array_location;
#set #2 to #1
$mid_rank = $max_rank;
$mid_rand = $max_rand;
$mid_pic_path = $max_pic_path;
$mid_array_location = $max_array_location;
#set #1 to highest
$max_rank = @rank[$n];
$max_rand = $rand;
$max_pic_path = @pic[$n];
$max_array_location = $n;
}
#true if new #2 rank > old #2 rank but < #1 rank
#random decision if equal...
elsif ((@rank[$n] > $mid_rank)
|| (@rank[$n] == $mid_rank && $rand<$mid_rand)) {
#set #3 to #2
$low_rank = $mid_rank;
$low_rand = $mid_rand;
$low_pic_path = $mid_pic_path;
$low_array_location = $mid_array_location;
#set #2 to #1
$mid_rank = @rank[$n];
$mid_rand = $rand;
$mid_pic_path = @pic[$n];
$mid_array_location = $n;
}
#true if new #1 rank > old #1 rank but < #2 rank
#random decision if equal...
elsif ((@rank[$n] > $low_rank)
|| (@rank[$n] == $low_rank && $rand<$low_rand)) {
#set #3 rank
$low_rank = @rank[$n];
$low_rand = $rand;
$low_pic_path = @pic[$n];
$low_array_location = $n;
}
}.....(i haven't checked if my brackets are okay ... just for illustration!)
This is greatly appreciated. Would it help if I were to say this is not for php but for perl??!?
seems logical.. i will test it out...
not really - i'm even less familiar with perl!
When iterating the list it might be easier to store everything to a hash table. For example, as you iterate the images, create an entry for each where the key is the rank, and the value of the hash is an array of all images of that rank. So it would look something like:
push $RANKS{$imgrank}, $img;
Then when you've gone through all the images, run a descending numeric sort on the keys of the %RANKS hash. Only look at the first 3 (since those will be your top 3 ranked images).
Since you stored the images into an array, you already know the number of qualifying images for each rank with the $# operator on the hash array element. You can then do a rand with this number and select one of the equally-ranked images in the case of a tie.
There may be some casting involved with making the elements of a hash be arrays, but I've done it before without any major complications.
Hopefully this solves your problem without having to call a rand for every element.
you know, that's a good logical, effiecent way to look at it.. seems to me that the problem of ties is solved and also if i decied to have the top # instead of 3, i can easily change that...
sweet ill give it a try and let you know the outcome....
Thanks very much for your help.. most appriecative