convertin char String to int

Projects Programming
1

Hello all it is my first post and I would be eternally gratefull if somebody can spare a bit of time to give me a hand.
my code is
unsigned int i = 0; //timeout counter
//declaring strings for incoming data
String outputString1 = "";
String outputString2 = "";
while (!Serial.find(""field1":")){} // find the part we are interested in.

while (i<60000) { // 1 minute timeout checker
if(Serial.available()) {
char c = Serial.read(); // reading from serial port for outputString
if(c==',') break; // break out of our loop because we got all we need
outputString1 += c; // append to our output string
i=0; // reset our timeout counter
}
i++;
}
I can not for the life of me to declare outputString as a number.
what I get from Serial.read will be either a "1.000" or "0.000".
thats why I am using Strings.
How can I either Serial.read to a number (int, long or whatever) or convert the characters to an int or long or float preferably an int would be great!
Cheers and thankfull for your time

2 
        i=0; // reset our timeout counter

What, exactly, are you counting? How long to you think it will take that while loop to iterate 60000 times if there is no serial data to read?

How can I either Serial.read to a number (int, long or whatever)

Serial.parseInt() or Serial.parseFloat() depending on the type you are sending.

preferably an int

Why are you sending 0.000 if you want an int? Would you send 46 if you wanted a float?

3

hi what I am reading through Serial.read is a thingspeak channel field that i can switch between "1.000" and "0.000" with virtuino, or on and off respectively. I can attach the full code but is kind of long. It is a thingspeak controlled heat pump controller which lets say gets the value from thingspeak in order to turn on or off. Thank you

4

So, thingspeak allows you to select channel 3.14159. Another reason to never use that crappy site.