Roald Baudoux

I am programming a function to open a com port with a number matching a provided argument. So I need to compare two numbers (integers).

The first number is provided as argument to my object as A_GIMME. The second is provided from external API as a char. Actually the API return an array of char with the text "COM1", "COM2", "COM3" or "COM4". So the idea is to take the fourth char - the one with the number - and compare it with the argument.

So, I provide, say, number 4 as argument to my function , and the char array contains C, O, M, 4. The results of the comparison should be 1 but I have 0 instead.

void simplesensel_openbycomport(t_simplesensel *x, t_symbol *s, long argc, t_atom *argv)

        if (argv[0].a_type == A_LONG && atom_getlong(argv) > 0) { 

            char my_com_port[1];

            t_symbol *my_sym;

            my_sym = atom_getsym(argv);

            strncpy_zero(my_com_port, my_sym->s_name, 1);

            // scans all devices (max. 16, only one most of the time probably)

            unsigned int comparison_flag = 0;

            for (j = 0; j < list.num_devices; j++) {

                if (atom_getlong(argv) == (list.devices[j].com_port[3]) {

                    comparison_flag = 1;

                    break;

// opens port if com port number matches function argument 0

            if (comparison_flag == 1) {

                if (senselOpenDeviceByComPort(&handle, list.devices[j].com_port) == 0) {

                    post("Device with COM port %s successfully opened.\n", atom_getsym(argv));

                else post("Couldn't open device with COM port %s.\n", atom_getsym(argv));

        else post("Wrong argument type or value.\n");

    else post("Please provide a serial (COM) port name as argument.\n");

Is it a type issue? If I check the size of each data, the argument converted to A_LONG is encoded on 8 bytes (so it's an int64 I guess) while, as axpected the list.devices[j].com_port[3] has a one-byte length.

If I ensure both data are encoded to 8 bytes, the results of the comparison is still 0 when it should be 1:

((int64)(atom_getlong(argv)) == (int64)(list.devices[j].com_port[3]))

void simplesensel_openbycomport(t_simplesensel *x, t_symbol *s, long argc, t_atom *argv)
{
	senselGetDeviceList(&list);
	if (argc > 0) {
		if (argv[0].a_type == A_LONG  && atom_getlong(argv) > 0) { 
			char my_com_port[1];
			t_symbol *my_sym;
			my_sym = atom_getsym(argv);
			strncpy_zero(my_com_port, my_sym->s_name, 1);
			short j;
			// scans all devices (max. 16, only one most of the time probably)
			unsigned int comparison_flag = 0;
			for (j = 0; j < list.num_devices; j++) {
				if (atom_getlong(argv) == (list.devices[j].com_port[3]) {
					comparison_flag = 1;
					break;
				}
			}
                        // opens port if com port number matches function argument 0
			if (comparison_flag == 1) {
				if (senselOpenDeviceByComPort(&handle, list.devices[j].com_port) == 0) {
					post("Device with COM port %s successfully opened.\n", atom_getsym(argv));
				}
				else post("Couldn't open device with COM port %s.\n", atom_getsym(argv));
			}
			//else 
		}
		else post("Wrong argument type or value.\n");
	}
	else post("Please provide a serial (COM) port name as argument.\n");
}

Is it a type issue? If I check the size of each data, the argument converted to A_LONG is encoded on 8 bytes (so it's an int64 I guess) while, as axpected the  list.devices[j].com_port[3] has a one-byte length.

((int64)(atom_getlong(argv)) == (int64)(list.devices[j].com_port[3])) 

I am programming a function to open a com port with a number matching a provided argument. So I need to compare two numbers (integers).
The 

Number comparison issue with data from external API