Magento random block generator / block randomiser

This could be pretty useful if you want to combine XML block control with a random content display (eg. banner ads). Very easily achieved, simply create 1 file in ./base/default/template/page/html/random_block.phtml

 <?php 

  $children = $this->getSortedChildren();
  
  if(is_array($children)) {
    shuffle($children);
    echo $this->getChildHtml($children[0]); 
  }
 
 ?>

Then in your relevant XML file - control the output by using:

<block type="core/template" name="left.callout.random" template="page/html/random_block.phtml" before="-">
  <block type="core/template" name="left.callout.random1" template="callouts/left_col.phtml">
    <action method="setImgWidth"><width>240</width></action>
    <action method="setImgSrc"><src>images/image1.png</src></action>
    <action method="setImgAlt" translate="alt" module="catalog"><alt>some alt text</alt></action>
    <action method="setLinkUrl"><url>link url</url></action>
  </block>
  <block type="core/template" name="left.callout.random2" template="callouts/left_col.phtml">
    <action method="setImgWidth"><width>240</width></action>
    <action method="setImgSrc"><src>images/image2.png</src></action>
    <action method="setImgAlt" translate="alt" module="catalog"><alt>some alt text</alt></action>
    <action method="setLinkUrl"><url>link url</url></action>
  </block>
</block>

You can add any type of block you want and it will just grab one at random. [syntaxhighlighter]