Arduino Serial.println() outputs a blank line if not in loop() - c

Question

I'm attempting to write a function that will pull text from different sources (Ethernet client/Serial/etc.) into a single line, then compare them and run other functions based on them. Simple..
And while this works, I am having issues when trying to call a simple Serial.println() from a function OTHER than loop().
So far, I have around 140 lines of code, but here's a trimmed down version of the portion that's causing me problems:
boolean fileTerm;
setup() {
fileTerm = false;
}
loop() {
char character;
String content="";
while (Serial.available()) {
character = Serial.read();
content.concat(character);
delay(1);
}
if (content != "") {
Serial.println("> " + content);
/** Error from Serial command string.
* 0 = No error
* 1 = Invalid command
*/
int err = testInput(content);
}
int testInput(String content) {
if (content == "term") {
fileTerm = true;
Serial.println("Starting Terminal Mode");
return 0;
}
if (content == "exit" && fileTerm == true) {
fileTerm = false;
Serial.println("Exiting Terminal Mode");
return 0;
}
return 1;
}
(full source at http://pastebin.com/prEuBaRJ)
So the point is to catch the "term" command and enter some sort of filesystem terminal mode (eventually to access and manipulate files on the SD card). The "exit" command will leave the terminal mode.
However, whenever I actually compile and type these commands with others into the Serial monitor, I see:
> hello
> term
> test for index.html
> exit
> test
> foo
> etc...
I figure the function is catching those reserved terms and actually processing them properly, but for whatever reason, is not sending the desired responses over the Serial bus.
Just for the sake of proper syntax, I am also declaring the testInput() function in a separate header, though I would doubt this has any bearing on whether or not this particular error would occur.
Any explainable reason for this?
Thanks.
Model: Arduino Uno R3, IDE version: 1.0.4, though this behavior also happened on v1.0.5 in some instances..

Answer 1

It is kinda guessable how you ended up putting delay(1) in your code, that was a workaround for a bug in your code. But you didn't solve it properly. What you probably saw was that your code was too eager to process the command, before you were done typing it. So you slowed it down.
But that wasn't the right fix, what you really want to do is wait for the entire command to be typed. Until you press the Enter key on your keyboard.
Which is the bug in your code right now, the content variable doesn't just contain "term", it also contains the character that was generated by your terminal's Enter key. Which is why you don't get a match.
So fix your code, add a test to check that you got the Enter key character. And then process the command.