randumb is a ruby gem that allows you to pull random records from ActiveRecord...fast!
This gem requires rails 3 or greater.
I built this for use on Compare Vinyl. Check out the homepage to see it in action :)
## randumb works the same as active records "all, first, and last" methods
## with no params, it will pull back one random record
Artist.random
## you can also put it at the end of scopings and relations
## passing an integer will pull that many records back in random order (unless your query brings back less records)
Artist.has_views.includes(:albums).random(10)## returns a record if called without parameters
artist = Artist.random ## instead of artist = Artist.random.first
## returns an array if called with parameters
artists = Artist.random(3) ## returns an array
artists = Artist.random(1) ## returns an array## you can use offset method for generating a random record for possibly improved performance on large datasets
artist = Artist.random(3, :method => :offset)## Add the following to you Gemfile
gem 'randumb'
## Run this
bundle install