Tool for practising reading numbers

[markhavemann]

I started to get frustrated with clumsily bumbling through numbers every time I had to read a phone number out loud or give a code to collect a package, so I made a little tool to generate random numbers to practise with. 

 

It's very basic but I thought I would share it in case somebody else might find it useful. 

 

It generates three sets of numbers that are like the codes in the 菜鸟裹裹 app, as well as three eleven digit numbers to practise phone number reading.

 

The phone numbers aren't divided into logical groups like 133 1234 1234, but rather all together like 13312341234 because they are often displayed that way and it makes it much more difficult. 

 

 

Click OK to reload with new numbers, or Cancel to exit. 

 

Any suggestions are welcome. 

 

Edit: Ditched the icon reference that was causing issues. Also included the AHK file (I'm not a programmer so don't judge my sub standard coding skills) which you can run if you have Autohotkey installed: https://www.autohotkey.com/

 

Random Numbers.exe Random Numbers.ahk

[BaneGlory]

Looks like an Auto Hotkey converted into an .exe (scary to run a .exe from a stranger) 

 

It looks like your drive location is statically assigned to X:\ you may want to use a dynamic reference to the home drive or something, I think those have percent signs %aroundthelocationorvariable%.

 

Or maybe just ditch the pretty icon, or maybe it's just my PC.

 

 

 

[BaneGlory]

13 minutes ago, markhavemann said:

菜鸟裹裹 app

What is this app? https://www.guoguo-app.com/ Is this the right webpage?

[889]

On Virus Total three sites detect that .exe file as unsafe.

[Singe]

Well done for sharing, though it doesn't appear to work on a Mac.

[markhavemann]

2 hours ago, BaneGlory said:

What is this app? https://www.guoguo-app.com/ Is this the right webpage?

 

 https://page.cainiao.com/mcn/actpc/cnindexpc.html?spm=a21da.44372.0.0.41983045E3VXxI that is the page for the app I think, although I don't see a download link.

Also here (not sure if it's trustworthy): http://www.pc6.com/az/202083.html

 

But it may be better to get it from the Apple app store or a Chinese app store (like Huawei or Xiaomi) if your phone has access to that. Somewhere on Taobao also has a link I believe, if you check the progress of a package it tries to direct you to the app as far as I remember. 

 

Basically it links to your Taobao account, shows the status of your deliveries and gives you codes for the delivery lockers and 菜鸟站 (if that's where your packages are delivered to). 

 

Thanks for showing the error. I've never compiled an autohotkey script before. I expected it might package the icon in the EXE. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Singe said:

Well done for sharing, though it doesn't appear to work on a Mac.

Sorry, only on Windows. It's pretty simple so maybe someone smarter than me would be willing to write a similar thing in Python or something that will work on mac. 

[markhavemann]

1 hour ago, 889 said:

On Virus Total three sites detect that .exe file as unsafe.

I guess maybe because it's made in Autohotkey, and Autohotkey can do things like log keystrokes and other scary things. 

 

If you are worried about that (can't blame you) then you can install Autohotkey and just run the script which I included.

 

Or make a new Autohotkey script file and copy the code in (since that way you can probably see it's nothing malicious): 

Spoiler

 

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn  ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.

;~ ==== Package codes
packageCodes := 
phoneNumbers :=

Loop, 3
{
    loop, 8 {
        if(A_Index = 2 or A_Index = 4)
        {
            packageCodes .= "-"
            continue
        } else
        {
            Random, rand, 0, 9
            packageCodes .= rand
        }
    }    
    packageCodes .= "`n`n"
}

Loop, 3
{
    loop, 11 {
            Random, rand, 0, 9
            phoneNumbers .= rand
    }    
    phoneNumbers .= "`n`n"
}

msgbox, 1, Random Numbers, % packageCodes "`n`n`n" phoneNumbers

IfMsgBox Ok
    Reload
else
    ExitApp

 

 

[889]

But what does it do that any web-based random number generator doesn't do?

 

For example, select a range of 100000 to 999999 on this page and you'll get a nice list of six-digit numbers to read out.

 

https://www.random.org/integers/?num=1000&min=100000&max=999999&col=8&base=10&format=html&rnd=new

 

No need to install anything on your machine this way.

[markhavemann]

1 hour ago, 889 said:

But what does it do that any web-based random number generator doesn't do?

Nothing at all.

 

You can definitely just visit a website if you like. Personally I just like having a little exe/script on my computer that I can run that will spoon feed me content in the exact way I want it. 

 

I find that the easier and more tailored I make things, the more likely I am to do them.

 

I click an icon on my desktop and I get three package codes and three phone numbers. No extra effort needed. Doing three of each takes almost no time so it's not intimidating at all (unlike seeing hundreds of numbers on a page). 

 

If I feel like doing more I just click OK and get another dose of small manageable practice without any effort.

 

It's definitely not anything new or wonderful, just something that makes my life easier that I thought somebody else might be able to get some use from too.