Returning random rows using IQueryable

Question

I have an ASP.NET page that links a listview to IQueryable:

<asp:ListView ID="productList" runat="server" 
    DataKeyNames="ProductID" GroupItemCount="6"
    ItemType="products.Models.Product" SelectMethod="GetProducts">
    <EmptyDataTemplate>
        <div>
            Sorry, no products available
        </div>
    </EmptyDataTemplate>
    <GroupTemplate>
        <ul id="da-thumbs" class="da-thumbs">
        <div id="itemPlaceholderContainer" runat="server" class="text-center">
            <div id="itemPlaceholder" runat="server"></div>
        </div>
        </ul>
    </GroupTemplate>
    <ItemTemplate>
        <li> 
            <img src='/products/Catalog/Images/Thumbs/<%#:Item.ImagePath%>' class="img-responsive"/>
            <div>
                <span class="hidden-xs">Short Description</span>
                <span class="spacer visible-xs"></span>
                <a href="<%#: GetRouteUrl("ProductByNameRoute", new {productName = Item.ProductName}) %>" class="btn btn-success btn-block align-mid">View Details</a>     
                <a href="<%#:Item.ShortURL %>" class="btn btn-success btn-block align-mid"><%#:Item.DownloadText%></a>
            </div>
        </li>
    </ItemTemplate>
    <LayoutTemplate>
        <div class="row">
            <asp:PlaceHolder ID="groupPlaceholderContainer" runat="server">
                <div id="groupPlaceholder" runat="server"></div>
            </asp:PlaceHolder>
        </div>                 
    </LayoutTemplate>
</asp:ListView>
<asp:DataPager ID="it" runat="server" PagedControlID="productList" PageSize="6" class="btn-group pager-buttons pagination pagination-large">
    <Fields>
        <asp:NextPreviousPagerField ShowLastPageButton="False" ShowNextPageButton="False" ButtonType="Button" ButtonCssClass="btn" RenderNonBreakingSpacesBetweenControls="false" />
        <asp:NumericPagerField ButtonType="Button" RenderNonBreakingSpacesBetweenControls="false" NumericButtonCssClass="btn" CurrentPageLabelCssClass="btn disabled" NextPreviousButtonCssClass="btn" />
        <asp:NextPreviousPagerField ShowFirstPageButton="False" ShowPreviousPageButton="False" ButtonType="Button" ButtonCssClass="btn" RenderNonBreakingSpacesBetweenControls="false" />
    </Fields>
</asp:DataPager>

GetProducts() defined as follows:

public IQueryable<Product> GetProducts(
                        [QueryString("id")] int? categoryId,
                        [RouteData] string categoryName)
{
    var _db = new products.Models.ProductContext();
    IQueryable<Product> query = _db.Products;

    if (categoryId.HasValue && categoryId > 0)
    {
        query = query.Where(p => p.CategoryID == categoryId);
    }

    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(categoryName))
    {
        query = query.Where(p =>
                            String.Compare(p.Category.CategoryName,
                            categoryName) == 0);
    }

    var random = new Random();
    query = query.OrderBy(product => random.Next()).Where (p => p.Active == 1);
    return query;
}

The problem Random()is not working here. When I launch my application, I get an error

LINQ to Entities does not recognize the 'Int32 Next ()' method, and this method cannot be translated into a repository expression.

Perhaps one solution is to change it to IEnumerable, but then I need IQueryableto swap.

Update: after using the Taher solution, this is an internal request that I receive:

{SELECT 
    [Project1].[ProductID] AS [ProductID], 
    [Project1].[ProductName] AS [ProductName], 
    [Project1].[Description] AS [Description], 
    [Project1].[ImagePath] AS [ImagePath], 
    [Project1].[DownloadText] AS [DownloadText], 
    [Project1].[DownloadURL] AS [DownloadURL], 
    [Project1].[ShortURL] AS [ShortURL], 
    [Project1].[UnitPrice] AS [UnitPrice], 
    [Project1].[CategoryID] AS [CategoryID], 
    [Project1].[Active] AS [Active], 
    [Project1].[ShortDescription] AS [ShortDescription], 
    [Project1].[Priority] AS [Priority]
    FROM ( SELECT 
        RAND() AS [C1], 
        [Extent1].[ProductID] AS [ProductID], 
        [Extent1].[ProductName] AS [ProductName], 
        [Extent1].[Description] AS [Description], 
        [Extent1].[ImagePath] AS [ImagePath], 
        [Extent1].[DownloadText] AS [DownloadText], 
        [Extent1].[DownloadURL] AS [DownloadURL], 
        [Extent1].[ShortURL] AS [ShortURL], 
        [Extent1].[UnitPrice] AS [UnitPrice], 
        [Extent1].[CategoryID] AS [CategoryID], 
        [Extent1].[Active] AS [Active], 
        [Extent1].[ShortDescription] AS [ShortDescription], 
        [Extent1].[Priority] AS [Priority]
        FROM [dbo].[Products] AS [Extent1]
        WHERE 1 = [Extent1].[Active]
    )  AS [Project1]
    ORDER BY [Project1].[C1] ASC}

Update: here is the modified code using the Taher and JCL suggestions:

if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(categoryName))
{
    Session["rand"] = null;
    query = query.Where(p =>
                        String.Compare(p.Category.CategoryName,
                        categoryName) == 0);
}

var seed = 0;

if (Session["rand"] == null)
{
    seed = (int)DateTime.Now.Ticks % 9395713;//a random number
    Session["rand"] = seed;
}

var readSeed = (int)Session["rand"];
query = query
   .OrderBy(product => SqlFunctions.Rand(product.ProductID * readSeed % 577317));
return query;

Answer 1

EF, SqlFunctions. Rand :

 query = query.OrderBy(product => SqlFunctions.Rand()).Where (p => p.Active == 1);

 using System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects; 

:

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var seed = (int)DateTime.Now.Ticks % 9395713;//a random number
query = query
   .OrderBy(product =>SqlFunctions.Rand(product.ProductId * seed % 577317))
   .Where (p => p.Active == 1);

sql , ProductId , Rand, sql .

seed, .

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, MVC , ASP.NET:

static Dictionary<string, int> categorySeeds = new Dictionary<string, int>();

:

int seed = 0;
if(categorySeeds.ContainsKey(categoryName))
{
   seed = categorySeeds[categoryName];
}
else
{
   seed = (int)DateTime.Now.Ticks % 9395713;//a random number
   categorySeeds.Add(categoryName, seed);
}
//rest of the code

Answer 2

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Answer 3

 var random = new Random();
 var randomNumber=random.Next();
 query = query.OrderBy(product => randomNumber).Where (p => p.Active == 1);