My while loop is not breaking after my interrupt updates in C - c

Question

I am implementing simon says as a small weekly project for school. Using arduino Uno, I'm making 10 levels each level has an extra pattern inside. example: level 1: [1], level 2: [1,2], etc... I have three buttons on my shield. the interrupts work and everything is gucci. My problem here is in this snippet
bool readInput(uint8_t pattern[], uint8_t length)
{
sei();
uint8_t current = 0;
while (current < length)
{
btnPushed = false;
while (!btnPushed)
{
#ifdef DEBUG
_delay_ms(1);
#endif
}
printf("here");
cli();
_delay_ms(200);
if (currentPushed == pattern[current])
{
printf("correct, you pushed %d\n", currentPushed);
}
else
{
printf("incorrect, lets try again\n");
return false;
}
}
btnPushed = false;
return true;
}
so basically I set my buttonPushed to false, and start listening for interrupts, once its true after clicking, I expect to exit the loop and check the input, however my interrupt is correct and I get visual feedback with a light that lights up once i push a button.
this is my ISR
ISR(PCINT1_vect)
{
uint8_t buttonCurr = currentButton();
if (buttonCurr != -1)
{
if (!btn1Pushed && buttonCurr == 0)
{
btn1Pushed = true;
}
currentPushed = buttonCurr;
blinkLed(currentPushed, 1);
btnPushed = true;
}
}
my current button returns 0-2 for buttons that are clicked, and -1 if nothing was clicked.
this is the rest of my code, which is working pretty much
int currentPushed = -1;
bool won;
bool btnPushed = false;
bool btn1Pushed = false;
ISR(PCINT1_vect)
{
uint8_t buttonCurr = currentButton();
if (buttonCurr != -1)
{
if (!btn1Pushed && buttonCurr == 0)
{
btn1Pushed = true;
}
currentPushed = buttonCurr;
blinkLed(currentPushed, 1);
btnPushed = true;
}
}
int main(void)
{
enableAllButtons();
enableAllLeds();
lightDownAllLeds();
prepareButtonsForInterrupt();
initUSART();
init();
play();
if (won)
{
printf("Simon says you win");
}
else
{
printf("simon says do better");
}
return 0;
}
void init(void)
{
printf("LETS PLAY SIMON SAYS\nPress button 1 to start!\n");
int seed = 0;
while (!btn1Pushed)
{
blinkLed(3, 4);
seed++;
}
srand(seed);
printf("Get ready!\n");
btnPushed = false;
cli();
}
void createRandomPattern(uint8_t array[], uint8_t length)
{
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
array[i] = rand() % 3;
}
}
void play(uint8_t pattern[])
{
uint8_t fullPattern[MAX_PATTERN_LENGTH];
createRandomPattern(fullPattern, MAX_PATTERN_LENGTH);
for (int i = 1; i <= MAX_PATTERN_LENGTH; i++)
{
printf("========LEVEL %d===========\n", i);
playPuzzle(fullPattern, i);
#ifdef DEBUG
printPuzzle(fullPattern, i);
#endif
readInput(fullPattern, i) ?: i--;
}
}
bool readInput(uint8_t pattern[], uint8_t length)
{
sei();
uint8_t current = 0;
while (current < length)
{
btnPushed = false;
while (!btnPushed)
{
}
cli();
if (currentPushed == pattern[current])
{
printf("correct, you pushed %d\n", currentPushed);
}
else
{
printf("incorrect, lets try again\n");
return false;
}
current++;
}
btnPushed = false;
return true;
}
void printPuzzle(uint8_t pattern[], uint8_t length)
{
printf("[ ");
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
printf("%d ", pattern[i]);
}
printf("]\n");
}
void playPuzzle(uint8_t pattern[], uint8_t length)
{
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
lightUpOneLed(pattern[i]);
_delay_ms(500);
lightDownOneLed(pattern[i]);
}
}

Answer 1

btnPushed is defined as bool btnPushed = false;.
So when you write:
while (!btnPushed)
{
#ifdef DEBUG
_delay_ms(1);
#endif
}
Nothing in the loop will change btnPushed so there is no point for the compiler to ever check btnPushed again. So what the compiler sees is this:
if (!btnPushed)
while(true)
{
#ifdef DEBUG
_delay_ms(1);
#endif
}
You have to tell the compiler that the value of btnPushed will change unexpectantly when the interrupt fires by using:
volatile bool btnPushed = false;