Int Variable Not Changing When Given A New Value

Using Arduino Programming Questions
#1

Hello!

This is my first post, so I’m a bit unsure of how I should post this.

I am using an Arduino Uno board.

What I am trying to as a whole use 8 LED’s as a form of input. Each LED is a number [1-8] and I use the potentiometer to “scroll through” the LED to get the value/number of the LED I want.
I’ve used a loop to scroll through the LED’s and a pushbutton to stop the loop/scrolling. Now all I need is to retain the value/number of the LED that I stopped at. This is where I run into problems.

I’m using a int variable declared in the first line of one of my function (int tempGuess) to try to retain the value. I change it inside an if statement, and then return it/print it. However, every time I try to return the value or print out the variable it just returns to its original value outside of the if statement.

Is there something wrong with how I am using the variable?

Is this a good method to use?

Thank you very much!

Code:

const int MAX_BOARD_SIZE = 8; 
const int BANK_SIZE = 3;

int buttonPins[] = {19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 9, 10, 11};
const int ledPin =  2;

const int buttonPin = 12; 
int buttonState = 0; 

int locationCells[BANK_SIZE];

int sensorPin = A0;    // select the input pin for the potentiometer
int sensorValue = 0;

void setup(){     
  // initialize the pushbutton pin as an input:
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT); 
  Serial.begin(9600);

  }
  //setup game



void loop() { 
  char guess = 'n';
  String result = "miss";
  guess = getGuess();
  if (guess != 'n') {    
    //Serial.print("You guessed:");
    Serial.println(guess);
    //Serial.println(result);     
    }
  }


/* A function to fetch the character input from the Serial Monitor.
returns 'n' if no guess, else the user input 
*/
char getGuess(){ 
  sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);

  int chosenLedNum = map(sensorValue, 0, 1023, 0, 7);
 
  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
  //Declaring the global int variable
  int tempGuess = 0;
  //if the button is pressed turn on LED and the button row of LED's
  if (buttonState == LOW) {    
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
    //value of the potentiometer is compared to the LED number
    for(int i = 0; i<8; i++){
      //if they are the same the LED lights up
      if (chosenLedNum == (i)){
        digitalWrite(buttonPins[i], HIGH);
        //changing the value of the global int variable
        tempGuess = i+1;
      }
      else {
        
        digitalWrite(buttonPins[i], LOW);
      }
    }
  }
  else {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    //turns off the row of LED's
    for(int i = 0; i<8; i++){
        digitalWrite(buttonPins[i], LOW);
    }
  }
  //should print/return a value other than 0, but it doesn't 
  Serial.println(guess);
  return tempGuess;
}
#2

Welcome to the Forum. Please read the two posts by Nick Gammon at the top of the Forum for posting here, especially the use of code tags for posting source code. Also, we need to see all of the program code, not just part of it, to be of help.

#3 
 //Declaring the global int variable
  int guess = 0;

This is the problem
You are not declaring a global variable but one local to the function.

When we see all of your code I expect to see that you have also declared a global variable with the same name whose value never changes.

#4 
  //should print/return a value other than 0, but it doesn't
  Serial.println(guess);
  return tempGuess;

Printing one thing and returning something else means that you haven't a clue what you are returning. Do not make such silly assumptions.

#5