Reading state of input pins on a PIC18 - microcontroller

Question

I have been able to get outputs working on my PIC and can make a bunch of LEDs dance on and off as I set various output latches high/low. However, I'm having a lot o difficulty reading in the state of a pin.
See the code below. I set up my config, and define the TRISC as input and TRISB as output. In an infinite loop, I check to see whether RC6 is high or low, and set the entire B latch high or low depending on the result.
#include <htc.h>
__CONFIG(1, FOSC_IRC & FCMEN_OFF & IESO_OFF);
__CONFIG(2, PWRTEN_OFF & BOREN_OFF & WDTEN_OFF);
__CONFIG(3, MCLRE_OFF);
__CONFIG(4, STVREN_ON & LVP_OFF & DEBUG_OFF);
__CONFIG(5, 0xFFFF);
__CONFIG(6, 0xFFFF);
__CONFIG(7, 0xFFFF);
void main(void)
{
TRISC = 0xFF; // input
TRISB = 0x00; // output
while (1)
{
if (PORTCbits.RC6 == 0)
LATB = 0b00000000;
else
LATB = 0b11111111;
}
return;
}
The code compiles fine with no warnings or errors. If my code logic is simply setting latches high and low then that works fine, but I haven't been able to successfully read the state of a pin.
Any ideas?
I'm using a PIC18F14K50 and MPLAB v8.43 and the HiTech ANSI C Compiler.
My connections are +5V to the VDD (pin 1), VSS (pin 20) to ground. I have +5V to C6 (pin 8), and a 100K resistor and LED from B7 (pin 10) to ground. To toggle RC6, I connect/disconncet the wire to C6.
┌────────┐
+5v -│ 01 20 │- gnd
-│ 02 19 │-
-│ 03 18 │-
-│ 04 17 │-
-│ 05 16 │-
-│ 06 15 │-
-│ 07 14 │-
+5v -│ 08 13 │-
-│ 09 12 │-
led -│ 10 11 │-
└────────┘

Answer 1

The ADC pins on the PICs unfortunately are configured as analog inputs on powerup. You need to disable the ADC functionality on that pin to use it as a digital input.
Clearing bit 0 of ANSELH will set RC6 to digital input. Then your code will work.
This is documented in the datasheet in section 9.4 : Port Analog Control
PIC18F/LF1XK50 Datasheet

Answer 2

Setting...
TRISC = 1; // input
...should set only pin RC0 of PORTC as input pin, all other pins are defined as output.
So PORTCbits.RC6 == 0 should not return correct input state of in RC6 pin.
TRISC = 255 should set all pins of PORTC as input.

Answer 3

It is worth mentioning that some other PIC18 variants are set up differently:
On PIC18F4520 and PIC18F4680 you need to configure pins as digital it trough a ADCON1 register instead of ANSELH.
Setting a bit to 1 will make a pin digital.
Besides this you need to make them input pins by setting a bit to 1 in the corresponding TRIS register.