gbRandomText

gbRandomText is an easy to use freeware application that generates random text. It generates a spcified number of lines, with each line containing a random or fixed number of characters. The maximum and minimum number of characters per line can be specified.

gbRandomText can also create lines containing random or fixed numbers of words, where the words are drawn from a file or from a manually entered list of words.

Optionally, a random number of duplicate lines may be included in the output.

Download (v1.0, 0K)

gbRandomText uses a single main screen, consisting of a toolbar, several controls for entering arguments used to create the random text, and a textbox for displaying the generated random text. The controls used for entering arguments may be hidden, as in this image of the gbRandomText main screen.

Additionally, a common context menu is provided for all textbox controls.

Feature List

gbRandomText provides a variety of features.

Random text generation
Text consisting of random characters
Text consisting of random words
Text consisting of random lines
Optional duplicate line generation
Select allowed characters to use in random text
Select text file to use as word source
Manually enter words to use as word source
View the word source file (in user's default text viewer)
Convert input to lower case
Remove punctuation symbols from input text
Sentence punctuation
Paragraph formatting
Ordered lists
Hide settings controls
Font selection
Quick conversion to default font settings
Online Help

Examples

Here are several gbRandomText screen shots, showing all available controls as well as several examples of the types of text that can be geneated.

All Controls Visible

Random Characters

Random Words from File Word Source

Random Words from User Word Source

Paragraph Formatting

Bullet Formatting

Using gbRandomText

Using gbRandomText couldn't be simpler.

Select the source (allowed characters, word file, or manually entry)
Press the corresponding Create Random Test toolbar button

That's it.

gbRandomText also lets you configure the type of output that is generated. You can adjust how many lines are created, the width of lines, and whether generated lines consist of words or characters. You can also format the output as paragraphs or numbered lines.

You can even have some duplicate lines thrown in the results!

The results can be sorted or placed on the clipboard.

Toolbar

Most gbRandomText features or settings are accessed through the toolbar buttons.

Select
Select a text file as a source of words.

View
Open the text file in the default text editor on the user's PC.

Chars
Generate random text from random characters. The list of allowed characters can be edited.

File
Generate random text from the words in the selected file.

User
Generate random text from the words typed in by the user.

Sort
Sort the generated random text.

Copy
Copy all of the random text onto the clipboard

Font
Select the font to use on the random text. Does not apply to other controls. The font button also has a dropdown arrow, which opens a context menu that is discussed below.

Settings

The settings button toggles hiding the controls which display/edit arguments used in sorting. The settings button also has a dropdown arrow, which opens a context menu that is discussed below)

Help
Opens this online help page.

Settings
Pressing the Font button will display a font selection dialog.

Pressing the down arrow next to the Font button will display a context menu with the following options.

Courier New 8
Sets the font to Courier New, 8 point, normal font.

Courier New 12
Sets the font to Courier New, 12 point, normal font.

Tahoma 8
Sets the font to Tahoma, 8 point, normal font.

Tahoma 12
Sets the font to Tahoma, 12 point, normal font.

User-Defined
Sets the font to the settings chosen by the user from the Font Dialog. The menu caption shows the user-selected font name and size.

Settings
Pressing the Setting button will toggle display of the controls which display/edit arguments used in sorting.

Pressing the down arrow next to the Settings button will display a context menu with the following options.

Minimum Line Width
Sets the minimum width of generated text lines. The value indicates the number of characters or words, depending on the Create Random Text button selected on the toolbar.

Maximum Line Width
Set the maximum width of generated text lines. The value indicates the number of characters or words, depending on the Create Random Text button selected on the toolbar.

Exact Line Count
Determine how many lines of text will be generated.

Min-Max-Count
Allow entry of all three values (comma separated). This is for convenience to the user and gives the same results as changing each value separately.

Paragraph Min-Max Sentences
Allow entry of all two values (comma separated), which sets the minimum and maximum number of sentences placed in a paragraph.

Quick Min=Max
This is for convenience to the user and sets the minimum line width to the maximum lne width (all lines will be the same number of characters or words).

Quick 5,20,20
Allow entry of all three values (comma separated). This is for convenience to the user and quickly setts the min/max/line count values to a common setting.

View Allowed Characters
Opens a popup messagebox showing the allowed characters, as selected by the user.

Case Sensitive Sort
Ignores case when performing a sort of the generated random text.

Convert Source Line To Words
The source word file is normally one word per line. But where the source files consists of multiple words per line, this option separates the words.

Include Duplicate Lines
Determines whether duplicates lines will the included as part of the generated random text. If used, the number of total lines stays the same, but some lines will be duplicates of other liens.

Scramble Words
Scrambles the letters in each word.

Punctuate Sentences
Capitalizes the first word of each sentence and ends the sentence in a random puncutation character (.!?).

Remove Source Punctuation
Remove punctuation symbols from the source text.

Paragraph Formatting
Format the output text as paragraphs. The range of sentences in each paragraph can be set.

Lower Case Source
Converts the source text to lower case before using to generate randome text.

SIRTS
Just for fun, generates a random text stereogram.

Context Menu

All four textboxes (symbols, filename, user words, and random text) have identical context menus consisting of the standard cut/copy/paste/delete options.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are provided:

F1 Opens the online help page.
Ctl-P Immediately applies paragraph formatting to the random text.
Ctl-U Removes line numbers from the random text.

Files/Folders

As part of it's operation, gbRandomText uses or creates several files, as follows:

gbrandomtext_userwords.txt
Contains the user words found at the end of the previous session. These words are restored in the next session.

gbrandomtext_randomtext.txt
Contains the last generated random text from the previous session. These words are restored in the next session.

gbrandomtext_defaultwordlist.txt
If no file has been identified as a source for words, gbRandomText generates this file with several default words.

Other Comments

Misecellaneous information is provided in this section.

Sessions
When gbRandomText starts, it restores the previous session content.

INI File
gbRandomText application settings are saved in an INI file, kept in the same folder as the gbRandomText application.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!