Pick random word from list?

Question

I´m having trouble picking a random word from a list in another file. Actually I can´t even get it to choose any word. I´m not sure how to connect the 2 files so to say. Hoping

Answer 1

Try creating a Static Class and add a method for returning your List, you will then be able to access your wordlist.

example:

static class WordList
{
   static List words = new List();

   public static  void ListOfWords()
   {
       words.Add("test");         // Contains: test
       words.Add("dog");          // Contains: test, dog
       words.Insert(1, "shit"); // Contains: test, shit, dog

       words.Sort();
       foreach (string word in words) // Display for verification
       {
           Console.WriteLine(word);
       }

   }

   public static List GetWords()
   {
      return words;
   }

   public static void AddWord(string value)
   {
       words.Add(value);
   }
}

You would then change your switch statement to look something like this.

switch (MenuChoice)
{
    case 1:               
        Console.Write("\n\tAdd a word\n\n");
        var insert = Console.ReadLine();
        WordList.AddWord(insert);
        Console.Write("\n\tList of words\n\n");
        WordList.ListOfWords();                
        break;
    case 2:
        Console.Write("\n\tList of words\n\n");
        WordList.ListOfWords();
        break;

    ....

and your pickWord Method would look like this:

static string pickWord()
{
    string returnword = "";

    Random randomGen = new Random();
    returnword = WordList.GetWords()[randomGen.Next(0, WordList.GetWords().Count() - 1)];
    return returnword;
}

---

I modified your Wordlist class so that it can use a file to maintain your Words between uses of your program, just incase that is what was being asked of you.

static class WordList
{
    static string filePath = @"C:\temp\Word.txt";
    static List words = new List();
    private static void CheckFile()
    {
       //Makes sure our base words are saved to the file
       if (!File.Exists(@"C:\temp\Word.txt"))
       {
           using (TextWriter writer = new StreamWriter(filePath))
           {
               writer.WriteLine("test");
               writer.WriteLine("dog");
               writer.WriteLine("shit");
           }
       }
   }

   public static  void ListOfWords()
   {
       CheckFile();
       words.Clear();
       using (TextReader file = new StreamReader(filePath))
       {
           char[] delineators = new char[] { '\r', '\n' };
           string[] tempWords = file.ReadToEnd().Split(delineators, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

           foreach (string line in tempWords)
           {
               words.Add(line);
           }

       }


       foreach (string word in words) // Display for verification
       {
           Console.WriteLine(word);

       }

   }

   public static List GetWords()
   {
      return words;
   }

   public static void AddWord(string value)
   {
       CheckFile();
       using (TextWriter writer = new StreamWriter(filePath,true ))
       {
           writer.WriteLine(value);
       }
   }
}