Arduino button counter - arduino

Question

I was using Arduino but I encountered problems with my code. I want a button to illuminate certain lights, and every time you press it, the lights will illuminate in a different pattern. Right now, the code does not keep track of how many times the button has been pressed. I would really appreciate any help!
const int buttonPin = 4; // pushbutton 1 pin
int ledPins[] = {5,6,7,8,9,10};
int buttonCounter = 0;
int buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
void setup(){
pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
// The for loop refers to each pin number
// by their position in the array
for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++){
pinMode(ledPins[i], OUTPUT);
}
}
int countButtonPresses()
{
if (buttonState == 0)
{
buttonCounter = buttonCounter + 1;
}
return buttonCounter;
}
void loop(){
int displayTime = 800;
int pattern = countButtonPresses();
Serial.println(pattern);
switch(pattern) {
case 1:
for(int i = 0; i <=5; i++){
digitalWrite(ledPins[i], HIGH);
delay(displayTime);
digitalWrite(ledPins[i], LOW);
}
break;
case 2:
for(int i = 0; i <=5; i += 2){
digitalWrite(ledPins[i], HIGH);
delay(displayTime);
digitalWrite(ledPins[i], LOW);
}
break;
default:
Serial.println(countButtonPresses());
}
}

Answer 1

In my opinion, the problem is that you don't have a clear idea of what you want to do :-)
The first error is logical: you cannot count the number of button presses, because when you have pressed the button once, the program returns "one", and executes the pattern one. The next time you press the button, the program returns "one" again, and so on. So, you have to change your logic (for example, when you press the first time, execute pattern one, when you press the second time, execute the pattern two).
The second error is the handling of the button press. Assuming that your button is pressed if it returns zero (we say "active low"), probably your program will count a few dozens of times before you release it. The cause of this is in the fact you don't have "debounced" it.
The "bouncing" effect is that your Arduino is faster than you, and if you press a button for a tenth of a second, Arduino loops several times finding the button pressed and counting many "presses".
To avoid this, when you find it pressed (buttonstate = 0), you must perform the illumination task, and wait until buttonstate becomes != 0. Also you must move the instruction "buttonstate = digitalRead(buttonPin);" within the loop() function in order to read continuously the status of the button.
I "dumped" some ideas to make it work; try to write it better, and if there are problems, ask again.

Answer 2

I modified your code a bit. I added a simple interrupt which modifies the count no matter where your code pointer is currently in (this will enable you to store number of presses even if you are inside a loop).
int buttonPin = 2; // pushbutton 1 pin
int ledPins[] = {5,6,7,8,9,10};
volatile int buttonCounter = 0;
int buttonState = 0;
void countButtonPresses();
void ExecuteIllumination(int ledPins[6],int DelayTime,int increments);
void setup(){
pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
// The for loop refers to each pin number
// by their position in the array
for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++){
pinMode(ledPins[i], OUTPUT);
}
//Here is much better
buttonState=digitalRead(buttonPin);
//Attach interrupt to button pin
attachInterrupt(0,countButtonPresses,FALLING);
}
void loop(){
int displayTime = 800;
Serial.println(buttonCounter);
switch(buttonCounter) {
case 1:
ExecuteIllumination(ledPins,displayTime,1);
break;
case 2:
ExecuteIllumination(ledPins,displayTime,2);
break;
}
}
void countButtonPresses()
{
buttonCounter++;
// modify this condition with number of patterns
if (buttonCounter>2)
buttonCounter=1;
}
void ExecuteIllumination(int ledPins[6],int DelayTime,int increments)
{
for(int i = 0; i <=5; i += increments){
digitalWrite(ledPins[i], HIGH);
delay(DelayTime);
digitalWrite(ledPins[i], LOW);
}
}
You may want to pay attention to bouncing effect of button:
Button debouncing