Banging my head on a wall

[NMNeil]

I have designed the electronics for the ignition system for my old 49 tractor, but have come up against a brick wall with the coding for the Arduino.
It simply didn't work, and after repeatedly simplifying the code to find the problem, I found that I can never get a valid input from the pin.
Here's the code I trimmed it down to:

void setup(){
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(7, INPUT);
}

void(loop){
int pinState = (digitalRead, 7);
Serial.print(pinState);
delay(1000);
}

When I run it I get a row of 7's on the serial monitor. Tied pin 7 to ground to cut out any stray signals and got a row of 7's, tied it to 5 volts and got the same row of 7's.
Changed the code so that pin 3 was the input and got a row of 3's !!!!!!
Replaced the Atmega 328 on the board but got the exact same results.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Gryd3]

For giggles, perhaps you should take a look at the "int pinState= (digitalRead, 7);" line
Set pinState to a static number or string and try again...
Alternatively perhaps using a digital read like above is what is causing issues...
int pinState = digitalRead(7);

I would suggest both.. but remember that the serial output will merely be 1's or 0's depending on the state of the pin.

 

[NMNeil]

Thanks for the reply, although I'm not sure what you mean.
I am generating a signal from a reflective optical sensor, and using a 10K pulldown resistor I send either a high(4.3 volts) or low (0 volts) to pin 7. I want pin 7 to read this signal and output either 0 or 1. But whatever changes I make to the code all I ever get is a number other than 0 or 1.
Be gentle I'm new to this electrickery stuff

 

[Gryd3]

Thanks for the reply, although I'm not sure what you mean.
I am generating a signal from a reflective optical sensor, and using a 10K pulldown resistor I send either a high(4.3 volts) or low (0 volts) to pin 7. I want pin 7 to read this signal and output either 0 or 1. But whatever changes I make to the code all I ever get is a number other than 0 or 1.
Be gentle I'm new to this electrickery stuff

Take a look at the sample code you posted. specifically this line:
int pinState = (digitalRead, 7);

Make note of where the brackets are.
The Arduino documentation shows the syntax for digitalRead is:
var = digitalRead(pin);
So that line should read:
int pinState = digitalRead(7);

To ensure things are working as expected though... you should probably do this first:
int pinState = 37;

If you get 37 on your serial terminal, then the send is working correctly.
Switch back to the corrected line I posted and try again.