Generate a random order number but prevent regeneration in WooCommerce - wordpress

Question

I am trying to add a random string when the order number is created as the default sequential number can be very easily guessed.
I tried this snippet:
function generate_random_string( $length = 16 ) {
return substr( str_shuffle( str_repeat( $x = '0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', ceil( $length / strlen( $x ) ) ) ), 1, $length );
}
add_filter( 'woocommerce_order_number', 'ct_change_woocommerce_order_number', 1, 2);
function ct_change_woocommerce_order_number( $order_id, $order ) {
$random_string1 = generate_random_string(5);
return $random_string1 . $order->get_id();
}
The problem is that this change the order number every time the order number is requested somewhere.
This would work if I will use a constant prefix and suffix, but in the actual way a different order number is shown each time for the same order. Any advice?

Answer 1

To prevent this you can save the result as meta data, once this exists return the meta data instead of the result of the function
So you get:
function generate_random_string( $length = 16 ) {
return substr( str_shuffle( str_repeat( $x = '0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ', ceil( $length / strlen( $x ) ) ) ), 1, $length );
}
function filter_woocommerce_order_number( $order_number, $order ) {
// Get meta
$random_meta_string = $order->get_meta( '_random_meta_string' );
// When meta empty
if ( empty ( $random_meta_string ) ) {
// Call function
$generate_random_string = generate_random_string( 5 );
// Append
$random_string = $generate_random_string . $order->get_id();
// Add the meta data
$order->update_meta_data( '_random_meta_string', $random_string );
// Return random string
$order_number = $random_string;
} else {
// Return meta
$order_number = $random_meta_string;
}
return $order_number;
}
add_filter( 'woocommerce_order_number', 'filter_woocommerce_order_number', 10, 2 );