How can I generate random alphanumeric strings?

Question

How can I generate a random 8 character alphanumeric string in C#?

Answer 1

Try to combine two parts: unique (sequence, counter or date ) and random

public class RandomStringGenerator
{
    public static string Gen()
    {
        return ConvertToBase(DateTime.UtcNow.ToFileTimeUtc()) + GenRandomStrings(5); //keep length fixed at least of one part
    }

    private static string GenRandomStrings(int strLen)
    {
        var result = string.Empty;

        using (var gen = new RNGCryptoServiceProvider())
        {
            var data = new byte[1];

            while (result.Length < strLen)
            {
                gen.GetNonZeroBytes(data);
                int code = data[0];
                if (code > 48 && code < 57 || // 0-9
                    code > 65 && code < 90 || // A-Z
                    code > 97 && code < 122   // a-z
                )
                {
                    result += Convert.ToChar(code);
                }
            }

            return result;
        }
    }

    private static string ConvertToBase(long num, int nbase = 36)
    {
        const string chars = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"; //if you wish to make the algorithm more secure - change order of letter here

        // check if we can convert to another base
        if (nbase < 2 || nbase > chars.Length)
            return null;

        int r;
        var newNumber = string.Empty;

        // in r we have the offset of the char that was converted to the new base
        while (num >= nbase)
        {
            r = (int)(num % nbase);
            newNumber = chars[r] + newNumber;
            num = num / nbase;
        }
        // the last number to convert
        newNumber = chars[(int)num] + newNumber;

        return newNumber;
    }
}

Tests:

    [Test]
    public void Generator_Should_BeUnigue1()
    {
        //Given
        var loop = Enumerable.Range(0, 1000);
        //When
        var str = loop.Select(x=> RandomStringGenerator.Gen());
        //Then
        var distinct = str.Distinct();
        Assert.AreEqual(loop.Count(),distinct.Count()); // Or Assert.IsTrue(distinct.Count() < 0.95 * loop.Count())
    }