How to make a random string array in vb.net - arrays

Question

I'm not sure if my title is exactly what I need so let me explain.
What I'm doing is making a "simple" game that list a US State (at random into a label) and then below the label is 5 Buttons of which I am trying to change the text to the buttons to random State Capital (all of the Capitals need to be random except for the correct one) After hours of researching with no luck it seems that I am not the only one trying get help with this. If you can help it would be great!
Private Class Players
Public Team As String
Public Name As String
Public Sub New(ByVal Team As String, ByVal Name As String)
Me.Team = Team
Me.Name = Name
End Sub
End Class
' Arraylist
Dim lstCapitals As New ArrayList
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim list As New List(Of Players)
' Capital Names
lstCapitals.Add("Montgomery")
lstCapitals.Add("Juneau")
lstCapitals.Add("Phoenix")
lstCapitals.Add("Little Rock")
lstCapitals.Add("Sacramento")
lstCapitals.Add("Denver")
lstCapitals.Add("Hartford")
' Random number generator
Dim randomInt As New Random
' Pulls a name randomly from the list
Dim stringname As String = lstCapitals.Item(randomInt.Next(0, 6))
'6 = lstCapitals.Count / one line up
' Show the name
'stateNamelbl.Show()
'NOT SURE IF I NEEDED THIS OR NOT THATS WHY ITS COMMENTED OUT
'Dim RandomList = From RndList In (From xitem In list Select xitem Group By xitem.Team Into First()) _
' Select RndList _
' Order By Rnd()
For Each item In lstCapitals
Randomize()
MsgBox(item.Team)
Next
End Sub

Answer 1

Your sample code doesn't explain how you choose the US State so I assume that you will have the value in a string somewhere. Here is a simple method you could use to generate a random string array to hold the values of the state capitals:
Dim sCorrectStateCapital As String = "Denver" ' This is hardcoded to "Denver" assuming that "Colorado" was the current US State you are playing the game for - you need to come up with your own logic to figure out how this works as I have no idea how you are choosing the State
Dim nButtonCount As Integer = 5 ' This is hardcoded to five since you have five buttons
Dim sCapitalsArray(nButtonCount - 1) As String ' Create the string array to hold the chosen capitals
' Loop five times and choose a different state capital each time
For i As Int32 = 0 To sCapitalsArray.Length - 1
Dim nTempIndex As Int32 = randomInt.Next(0, lstCapitals.Count - 1) ' Save the index value of the arraylist that we are choosing
sCapitalsArray(i) = lstCapitals.Item(nTempIndex) ' Populate the captials array
lstCapitals.RemoveAt(nTempIndex) ' Remove the selected capital from the list of possible choices since we do not want to choose it again
Next
' Test to see if the capitals array already contains the "correct" value
If Not sCapitalsArray.Contains(sCorrectStateCapital) Then
' The correct value is not already in the list so we overwrite one of the values in the array at a random index
sCapitalsArray(randomInt.Next(0, sCapitalsArray.Count - 1)) = sCorrectStateCapital
End If

Answer 2

The Form below has...
3 Labels: lblState, lblScore, lblAnswer
5 Buttons: btnCapital1, btnCapital2, btnCapital3, btnCapital4, btnCapital5
Public Class frmStateCapitalsQuiz
Public Class State
Public Name As String
Public Capital As String
Public Sub New(ByVal data As String)
Dim values() As String = data.Split(",")
Me.Name = values(0)
Me.Capital = values(1)
End Sub
Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
Return Me.Capital & ", " & Me.Name
End Function
End Class
Private R As New Random
Private Count As Integer
Private Correct As Integer
Private States As List(Of State)
Private CurrentState As State = Nothing
Private CurrentStateSet As List(Of State)
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
LoadStateData()
GenerateQuestion()
lblScore.Text = "Score: "
lblAnswer.Text = ""
End Sub
Private Sub LoadStateData()
States = New List(Of State)
Dim StateData As String = "Alabama,Montgomery;Alaska,Juneau;Arizona,Phoenix;Arkansas,Little Rock;California,Sacramento;Colorado,Denver;Connecticut,Hartford;Delaware,Dover;Florida,Tallahassee;Georgia,Atlanta;Hawaii,Honolulu;Idaho,Boise;Illinois,Springfield;Indiana,Indianapolis;Iowa,Des Moines;Kansas,Topeka;Kentucky,Frankfort;Louisiana,Baton Rouge;Maine,Augusta;Maryland,Annapolis;Massachusetts,Boston;Michigan,Lansing;Minnesota,St. Paul;Mississippi,Jackson;Missouri,Jefferson City;Montana,Helena;Nebraska,Lincoln;Nevada,Carson City;New Hampshire,Concord;New Jersey,Trenton;New Mexico,Santa Fe;New York,Albany;North Carolina,Raleigh;North Dakota,Bismarck;Ohio,Columbus;Oklahoma,Oklahoma City;Oregon,Salem;Pennsylvania,Harrisburg;Rhode Island,Providence;South Carolina,Columbia;South Dakota,Pierre;Tennessee,Nashville;Texas,Austin;Utah,Salt Lake City;Vermont,Montpelier;Virginia,Richmond;Washington,Olympia;West Virginia,Charleston;Wisconsin,Madison;Wyoming,Cheyenne"
For Each pair As String In StateData.Split(";")
States.Add(New State(pair))
Next
End Sub
Private Sub GenerateQuestion()
Dim shuffledStates = States.OrderBy(Function(x) R.NextDouble()).Take(5).ToList
CurrentState = shuffledStates(R.Next(shuffledStates.Count))
lblState.Text = CurrentState.Name
btnCapital1.Text = shuffledStates(0).Capital
btnCapital2.Text = shuffledStates(1).Capital
btnCapital3.Text = shuffledStates(2).Capital
btnCapital4.Text = shuffledStates(3).Capital
btnCapital5.Text = shuffledStates(4).Capital
End Sub
Private Sub btnCapitals_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnCapital1.Click, btnCapital2.Click, btnCapital3.Click, btnCapital4.Click, btnCapital5.Click
Dim SelectedCaptial As Button = DirectCast(sender, Button)
lblAnswer.Text = CurrentState.ToString
Count = Count + 1
If SelectedCaptial.Text = CurrentState.Capital Then
lblScore.BackColor = Color.Green
Correct = Correct + 1
Else
lblScore.BackColor = Color.Red
End If
Dim percentCorrect = CInt(CDbl(Correct) / CDbl(Count) * 100)
lblScore.Text = String.Format("Score: {0} / {1}, {2}% Correct", Correct, Count, percentCorrect)
GenerateQuestion()
End Sub
End Class