Tips and tricks 2: Reversing code ordering

So, you've configured Numberator to generate a sequence of codes that meets your requirements in every respect but one – the order in which they appear in the output file. Perhaps your codes are numeric and Numberator is generating them in ascending order but you require them in descending order?

Fortunately, Numberator provides a very simple means for you to reverse the order that it outputs codes and that is to reverse the order of the characters you type into the allowable characters edit box.

For example, to generate four digit decimal codes, type 0123456789 into the allowable characters box and select four from the code length drop down. If you click the continue button and download the codes, you will notice that they appear in ascending order of numerical value (assuming, of course, that you did not select a random output order).

To reverse this order, type 9876543210 into the allowable characters box and click the continue button. You will now see that the codes appear in descending order of numerical value.

Tips and tricks 1: Generating all combinations

Although Numberator is typically used to generate random numbers and codes it can also be used to generate all possible combinations of any set of characters. For example, you might want to generate a list of all the possible combinations that the characters A to Z can produce in four character codes or a list of all the binary combinations of eight bits. Generating such exhaustive lists is quick and easy with Numberator.

To generate all possible combinations of a set of characters:

1. Type the characters into the allowable characters field

2. Set the code length to the number of characters that you want to appear in combination

Numberator will now display the maximum number of possible codes in the panel at the top right of the page. This is the number of different combinations that can be produced by the specified characters.

3. Type the maximum number of possible codes into the number of codes required field

4. Click the continue button to generate all possible combinations

As an illustrative example of what can be achieved with the free subscription to Numberator, the following steps will generate all binary combinations of eight bits:

1. Type 01 into the list of allowable characters

2. Set the code length to eight characters

Numberator will indicate that there are 256 possible combinations of the characters 0 and 1 in codes eight characters in length.

3. Type 256 into the number of codes required field

4. Click the continue button and download your results

You will see that Numberator has generated all binary numbers from 00000000 to 11111111 without omission or repetition. If you checked the random output box they will appear in a random order but they will otherwise appear in strictly ascending numerical order.

Feature highlight: Ranges

Introduced in version 1.0.5 of Numberator is a new feature that makes it possible to generate only codes that lie within a user specifiable range. The simplest application of this feature is to control the generation of numerical style codes such as binary, decimal or hexadecimal codes.

For example, when generating four character decimal numerical codes, setting a “from” value of 1255 and a “to” value of 2937 for the range will ensure that all the codes have numerical values of at least 1255 and not more than 2937.

The range feature works in exactly the same way for non-numeric codes. When generating three character alphabetic codes, for example, setting a “from” value of BBC and a “to” value of KAZ will ensure that all the codes that are generated lie between BBC and KAZ.

In the case of non-numeric codes, however, it is not so obvious what “between” actually means. The following rules are therefore useful in determining whether a code lies in a particular range:

1. Starting with the first character in the code
2. The code lies in the range if the character lies after the corresponding character of the “from” value and before the corresponding character of the “to” value according to the order in which the characters appear in the allowable characters list. In the example above, the codes CBC, EAZ and JZF satisfy this condition with respect to their first characters and hence lie within the range BBC to KAZ if the allowable character list is ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.
3. The code does not lie in the range if the character lies before the corresponding character of the “from” value or after the corresponding character of the “to” value according to the order in which the characters appear in the allowable characters list. In the example above, the codes ABC, LAZ and TZF satisfy this condition with respect to their first characters and hence lie outside the range if the allowable character list is ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.
4. If the character is the same as the corresponding character of the “from” or “to” values then repeat the assessments in steps 2 to 4 for the next character in the code (unless the entire code is the same as the "from" or "to" values, in which case it does lie in the range) .
   

Ranges are an extremely powerful feature and have a wide variety of practical applications. One of the most common is to break a single code generation run up into several mutually exclusive parts, each of which is restricted to its own range.

For example, an on pack promotional campaign might span several different product lines or market segments and generating codes for each line or segment within a certain range makes it possible to control the number codes associated with each as well as to track claim rates.

One Week's Enterprise Subscription for £5

Our One Week Subscription level has now been upgraded to Enterprise. That's right - if you don't need to subscribe for a whole year, you now have the option to subscribe to the Enterprise version for just a week. The cost for this subscription is just £5.00 for unlimited use during that week.

New Version Released v1.0.5

We have released v1.0.5 of Numberator which adds the new powerful feature of Ranges, allowing you to generate codes, either sequentially or randomly, between a specific range of values.

For example, you may want to generate a range of codes just between AAAA and DDDD, or a range of random numbers between 10000 and 50000 only. This is a sophisticated feature, even more so when combines with Code Patterns, and we will be posting a tutorial on using it on this blog shortly.

In addition, we have reduced the number of allowable characters in a code down to 2 - this means that you can specify simply the characters "0" and "1" to appear in codes in order to generate binary codes of up to 24 characters (or bits) in length.

What Features Are We Working On?

Here's a quick insight into what we're currently working on for future releases of Numberator:


- Ability to enter an upper and lower range for the codes generated. For example, you may want to generate random five digit codes just between 10000 and 99999. It will also work with alpha chars, e.g. AACCCC to AAEEEE - which takes a little more getting your head round! We'll be creating a separate tutorial blog on this powerful feature once it's launched.


- Store/upload previously generated code batches and feed them back into new batch jobs to ensure the code uniqueness follows across all of the batches generated.


- As well as specifying patterns which can put prefix and suffix characters in the code, you will also be able to specify entire strings which can appear before and/or after each code.


- The output file is currently a simple list of numbers - soon you'll be able to generate XML files and database scripts containing your codes.


We've got lots more in the pipeline, and we'll let you know as soon as each feature is released.

One Week's Professional Subscription Now Available

If you don't need to subscribe for a whole year, you now have the option to subscribe to the Professional version for just a week. The cost for this subscription is just £5.00 for unlimited use during that week.