Arduino returning wrong integer value - http

Question

I have some code, that turns a LED on/off based on a value on a website (blank page containing a number. The number on the page indicate the number of times the LED should flash.
The problem is that the loop keep running.
I can fix the problem by setting the integer value manually (int c = 3).
Not sure what my problem is.
Maybe one of you can point me in the right direction.
Url: http://b2b.as/lan.php?pid=8855
Code:
#include <Ethernet.h>
#include <SPI.h>
byte mac[] = { 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF, 0xFE, 0xED };
byte ip[] = { 192, 168, 1, 104 };
char server[] = "b2b.as";
void setup()
{
Ethernet.begin(mac, ip);
Serial.begin(9600);
delay(1000);
Serial.println(Ethernet.localIP());
Serial.println();
// Set digital pin as output
// 5V
pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
//
Serial.print("\n-----\n");
// Connect to the server
Serial.print("connecting to URL ...");
// Start LAN connection
EthernetClient client;
if (client.connect(server, 80)) {
Serial.println("connected");
client.println("GET /lan.php?pid=8855");
client.println();
} else {
Serial.println("connection failed");
}
// Wait a moment for data to arrive
// Note: This is NOT a reliable way of doing this!
delay(1000);
if (client.available() > 0) {
char c = atoi(client.read());
Serial.print("page value (pick): ");
Serial.print(c, DEC);
Serial.print("\n");
for (int x = 1; x <= int(c); x++) {
Serial.print("picking: #");
Serial.println(x);
digitalWrite(8, HIGH);
Serial.println("8 HIGH ...");
delay(5000); // Add switch
digitalWrite(8, LOW);
Serial.println("8 LOW ...");
delay(1000);
}
Serial.print("end");
}
// Disconnect the client
if (client.connected()) {
//Serial.println();
Serial.print("disconnecting");
client.stop();
}
// Wait another 9s, which will give us a delay of roughly 10s
delay(9000);
}

Answer 1

I assume that the call to lan.php?pid=8855 will just return the value without any formatting, e.g., HTML, XML, JSON. Then your code basically converts the ASCII character 3 to an integer which gives you the integer value 33 (see ASCII Table). Therefore, your loop won't stop.
Solution
Just use the atoi function to convert it to an integer.
char c = atoi(client.read());

Answer 2

It seems that toInt() was the function I was looking for. It convert a string to integer and fixes the loop.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/StringToInt
Code has been updated and it seems to work:
#include <Ethernet.h>
#include <SPI.h>
byte mac[] = { 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF, 0xFE, 0xED };
byte ip[] = { 192, 168, 1, 104 };
char server[] = "b2b.as";
void setup()
{
Ethernet.begin(mac, ip);
Serial.begin(9600);
delay(1000);
Serial.println(Ethernet.localIP());
Serial.println();
// Set digital pin as output
// 5V
pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
//
Serial.print("\n-----\n");
// Connect to the server
Serial.print("connecting to URL ...");
// Start LAN connection
EthernetClient client;
if (client.connect(server, 80)) {
Serial.println("connected");
client.println("GET /lan.php?pid=8855");
client.println();
} else {
Serial.println("connection failed");
}
// Wait a moment for data to arrive
// Note: This is NOT a reliable way of doing this!
delay(1000);
if (client.available() > 0) {
String pickNum;
while (client.available()) {
char c = client.read(); // gets one byte from serial buffer
pickNum += c; // count
delay(2); // delay for buffer
}
Serial.print("page value (pick): ");
Serial.println(pickNum);
for (int x = 1; x <= pickNum.toInt(); x++) {
Serial.print("picking: #");
Serial.println(x);
digitalWrite(8, HIGH);
Serial.println("8 HIGH ...");
delay(1000); // Add switch
digitalWrite(8, LOW);
Serial.println("8 LOW ...");
delay(1000);
}
Serial.print("end");
}
// Disconnect the client
if (client.connected()) {
//Serial.println();
Serial.print("disconnecting");
client.stop();
}
// Wait another 9s, which will give us a delay of roughly 10s
delay(9000);
}