Arduino Sketch Question?

Hi Tony!

No worries, I think questions are a big reason these forums exist

I don't see your sketch attached, but to show a status change only once in a loop you can keep a variable that holds the latest status, and if it's different from the current status, print the message and update the variable.

kinda like this (loosely based on the Button example)...

int lastbuttonstate = 0;

int newbuttonstate = 0;

loop {

  newbuttonstate = digitalRead(buttonPin); // probably needs some debouncing

   if (newbuttonstate != lastbuttonstate) {  

     if (newbuttonstate == HIGH) {

          Serial.println("ON");

      }

      else {

          Serial.println("OFF");

     }

     lastbuttonstate = newbuttonstate;

   }

}

I think that will do the trick!

ps, how did your relay project turn out?

Cheers,

-Nico

Thanks for the response! I put in your code and this is definitely the closest it has been to working. However it still has a few problems like when I hit/hold any one of the buttons it says "on on on on on on" and when I release the button it does not say off. Those are the only issues I can foresee at the moment so if you know of any fix for them I would love to hear it. And my relay project is going great! I am almost ready to install  the project into my home lighting system. Thanks so much for all your help!

static byte ButtonPins[5] = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6};

const int PinCount = (5);

int ThisPin;

void setup()

{

  Serial.begin(9600);

  for (ThisPin = 0; ThisPin < PinCount; ThisPin++)

  {

  pinMode(ButtonPins[ThisPin], INPUT); 

  }

}

void loop()

{

static byte ButtonState[PinCount];

static byte LastButtonState[PinCount];

for (ThisPin = 0; ThisPin < PinCount; ThisPin++)

{

  ButtonState[ThisPin] = (digitalRead(ButtonPins[ThisPin]));

if (ButtonState[ThisPin] != LastButtonState[ThisPin])

  {

if (ButtonState[ThisPin] == HIGH)

    {

  Serial.println(ThisPin, DEC);

  Serial.println(" ON");

  }

else

   {

   Serial.println(ThisPin, DEC);

   Serial.println(" OFF");

   LastButtonState[ThisPin] = ButtonState[ThisPin];

   }

   }

   }

}

Tony,

    You have

       LastButtonState[ThisPin] = ButtonState[ThisPin];

in the "else" part, but it looks like you should be setting

LastButtonState regardless of whether ButtonState is HIGH or LOW.

That would involve just moving it down a line after the first "}",

like Nico's code.  You also probably want to initialize LastButtonState

to 0, like Nico showed.

Tony,

    You have

       LastButtonState[ThisPin] = ButtonState[ThisPin];

in the "else" part, but it looks like you should be setting

LastButtonState regardless of whether ButtonState is HIGH or LOW.

That would involve just moving it down a line after the first "}",

like Nico's code.  You also probably want to initialize LastButtonState

to 0, like Nico showed.