Hello! This is probably very simple stuff to most of you here, but it's got me stumped. I have installed a button on a toy phone installation in which the toy acts like a real phone. The button is sending a signal via pduino: at present when the phone is picked up a 1 is sent and when the phone is placed back on the hook a 0 is sent.

While debugging the patch I have discovered that the button I installed is actually sending a slew of ones and zeros in very quick succession when it is picked up, presumably as it transitions between being fully down and fully up. It typically looks like this if I print it: 1010101. The length is not consistent, although the initial 1 value is always correct.

Replacing the phone produces a more consistent single 0 value, although not always, sometimes it hiccups a 010. Typically though the first digit is the correct 0.

Is there a way to only respond to the first value and ignore the others? The closest equivalent to what I've experienced before is perhaps smoothing analog values when sensors are jittery, but I don't know how to go about doing it with digital 1/0 values. Thanks!

@Dizzy-Dizzy If you are sure that the last digit is a good value...?
The printed outputs are either even or odd..... so.......
David.

P.S. But if the digits are arriving separately (not as a block like a binary number) then you will need a window that opens and just takes the first value..... or the last... and then shuts after a set time..... say 1000 msecs ...... and resets to wait for the next stream.
I would expect that both the first and last values would always be good though.
The others will be switch bounce...... help here if necessary..... https://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/topic/12092/debouncing-was-measure-time-between-two-bangs-events/14

Hello @whale-av Thanks again for your help. I'm looking again at the print out from my button and the digits are arriving separately. If I lift the receiver ONCE and the button reports multiple ones and zeroes they display like this when printed:
print: 1
print: 0
print: 1
print: 0
print: 1
So as I understand from your suggestions, although the first and last value is always good, I still need a window to just take the first (or last digit)? Is there a best object to do this? Thanks!

How about this

[comport] <- I guess you're reading values from a serial bus
|
| [r spigot]
| /
[spigot 1]
|
[t f b b]
|    |  |
[0\ [0( [del 100]
     |   |
     |   [1(
     |  /
     [s spigot]

This will receive the first value, close [spigot], and re-open it after 100ms. You can experiment with the argument to [del] to get an optimal result.

@alexandros This is working great, thanks so much!