help with serial

Using Arduino Programming Questions
1

I'm trying to get my arduino to respond to serial commands so that I can then progress toward implementing a remote control home automation-esque application later on. The problem is that I can't get it to switch between states. Can someone please review my code and give me some input? I'm getting tripped up somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

int ledPin = 13;
int number_in = 0;
int state = 0;
#define BLINK   0
#define NO_BLINK   1

    void setup() {
      pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
      Serial.begin(115200);
    }

    void loop() {
      readSerial();
     
      switch(state) {

        case BLINK:

           digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
           delay(1000);
           digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
           delay(300);
           readSerial();
           if(number_in == 1)
            {
                state = NO_BLINK;
            }
        break;

        case NO_BLINK:

           digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
           readSerial();
           if(number_in == 0)
                {
                    state = BLINK;
                }
         break;
        }
    }

    void readSerial() {
        if (Serial.available() > 0) {
          number_in = Serial.read();
        }
      }
2

I'd guess that this:

           if(number_in == 1)

should be this:

           if(number_in == '1')

and the same for the similar test below. I assume you're typing 1 and 0 into the serial monitor, not somehow sending ascii char 1 and 0?

3

try it with char's first

int ledPin = 13;

char char_in = '';

int state = 0;

#define BLINK   0
#define NO_BLINK   1

void setup() 
{
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop()
{
  char_in = readSerial();
     
  switch(state)
  {
    case BLINK:
      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
      delay(1000);
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
      delay(300);
      char_in = readSerial();
      if (char_in == '1')
      {
        state = NO_BLINK;
      }
      break;

    case NO_BLINK:
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
      char_in = readSerial();
      if(char_in == '0')
      {
        state = BLINK;
      }
      break;
  }
}

char readSerial() 
{
  if (Serial.available() > 0) return Serial.read();
  return '';  // empty char
}
4

That did it! I figured it was something simple. Thanks guys.