Andy :
I have done the same thing you are talking about, giving 1s and 0s to the fire function. I had assigned pin1...pin7 as 1
and oo as 0.
So that way when i say pin1 it means 1.
I am using the word pin, because i thought it was easier to debug..the pin no. can be got without counting.
(verifying is easier).
what i have done is the same as
fire(1,1,0,0,1,1,1);

fire(pin1,pin2,oo,oo,pin5,pin6,pin7);

I wrote a print_character function and it was amazingly usefull...
My self test mode has gotten so much simpler now..

I have directly given the fire statements in the switch.
My code is a lot more organized now..

Thanks again.
-rahul