6

I have a Entries field and I'd like to return a URL for one randomly picked entry.

I could loop through all the entries, but I'd like to do something more efficient. Can I return an array of URLs? Or better yet, is it possible to randomly get one URL all at once?

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7

It is possible to have the query pick a random entry. From the Craft Entries Fields docs we see that entry.entriesFieldHandle is a shortcut for

craft.entries({
  relatedTo: { sourceElement: entry, field: "entriesFieldHandle" },
  order: "sortOrder",
  limit: null
})

And what we want is to order the entries randomly, and then limit the number we retrieve to only one:

craft.entries({
  relatedTo: { sourceElement: entry, field: "entriesFieldHandle" },
  order: "RAND()",
  limit: 1
})

So to retrieve one random entry and get its url:

{% set randomEntry = craft.entries({
      relatedTo: { sourceElement: entry, field: "entriesFieldHandle" },
      order: "RAND()",
      limit: 1
    }).first()
%}
{% if randomEntry %}
  {% set randomUrl = randomEntry.url %}
{% endif %}
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  • Interesting answer, Marion! Performance is better with your second approach, right? Then I'd leave out the random() part or put it at the end of the answer. – carlcs Jul 12 '14 at 11:37
  • (Sorry for the repost, I found a big error in my old comment.) Very cool way to do it! Using your last example I keep getting randomEntry returning as null. All I've changed is my "field:" to "aGlobalSet.entriesField". Any ideas why it isn't working? – Simon Kuran Jul 13 '14 at 6:58
  • @SimonKuran to pick a random entry from aGlobalSet you want {sourceElement: aGlobalSet, field: "entriesField"} – Marion Newlevant Jul 13 '14 at 23:21
  • Ah, I get it now. It worked, thanks! I put an edit in the queue adding the "all at once" technique I used to your answer. – Simon Kuran Jul 13 '14 at 23:45
  • I think the more common use case is that someone wants a random entry (with title, url, etc.), not just the url of a random entry – Marion Newlevant Jul 14 '14 at 0:04
3

No need to loop. You can use random():

{% set randomEntry = random(entry.entriesFieldHandle) %}
{% if randomEntry %}
    {% set randomUrl = randomEntry.url %}
{% endif %}

randomUrl is your random entry's url you wanted to get.

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  • random is a twig function. random(entry.entriesFieldHandle) will retrieve all the entries, then pick a random one. – Marion Newlevant Jul 12 '14 at 14:40
  • @Marion Is anything bad in it? OP seems to ask about twig... Sorry, not really so experienced :-) – nicael Jul 12 '14 at 14:43
  • Nothing wrong with it. Just responding to @ChristianSeelbach comment on my answer. Picking the random entry with the query is probably more efficient if there are a lot of entries, but your code is simpler. Should check that it found something though. – Marion Newlevant Jul 12 '14 at 14:47
  • @Marion You mean if it found an entry? Well, why not... – nicael Jul 12 '14 at 14:50
  • 1
    @micael yes. If there are no entries, randomEntry.url will give an error – Marion Newlevant Jul 12 '14 at 14:51

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