How do I access the animator parameter through C# script ?

Hello friends,

Game: This is a 2D game in which according to the swipe direction(4 cardinal direction) the character will move and reach the destination.

Problem: I want the character to move indefinitely in a particular swipe direction without stopping. But in the following code the character moves only after each swipe(in this case I have tried only for right swipe just to test) and not continuously.

// Update is called once per frame void Update () { //Check if Input has registered more than zero touches if (Input.touchCount > 0) { //Store the first touch detected. Touch myTouch = Input.touches[0];

         //Check if the phase of that touch equals Began
         if(myTouch.phase == TouchPhase.Began)
         {
             //If so, set touchOrigin to the position of that touch
             touchOrigin = myTouch.position;
         }

         //If the touch phase is not Began, and instead is equal to Ended and the x of touchOrigin is greater or equal to zero:
         else if(myTouch.phase == TouchPhase.Ended && touchOrigin.x >= 0)
         {
             //store the postion of the touch into touchEnd vector2 
             Vector2 touchEnd = myTouch.position;

             //Calculate the difference between the beginning and end of the touch in x-axis
             float x = touchEnd.x - touchOrigin.x;

             //Calculate the difference between the beginning and end of the touch in y-axis
             float y = touchEnd.y - touchOrigin.y;

             //touchOrigin.x to -1 so that the next frame should not execute the if else
             touchOrigin.x = -1;

             //check if it is a horizontal(x axis is greater) or vertical(y axis is greater) swipe
             if(Mathf.Abs(x) > Mathf.Abs(y))
             {
                 //if x is greater than than 0, set horizontal value to 1 else -1
                 horizontal = x > 0 ? 1 : -1;
                 if (horizontal == 1)
                 {
                     animator.SetInteger("direction" , 4);
                     int dir = animator.GetInteger("direction");
                     if(dir == 4)
                         gameObject.transform.Translate(Vector2.right * 4.0f * Time.deltaTime);

                 }
                 else if (horizontal == -1)
                 {
                     animator.SetInteger("direction" , 3);
                 }
             }
             else
             {    vertical = y > 0 ? 1 : -1;
                 if (vertical == 1)
                 {
                     animator.SetInteger("direction" , 1);
                 }
                 else if (vertical == -1)
                 {
                     animator.SetInteger("direction" , 2);
                 }
             }
         }
     }

 }![alt text][1]

Please tell me how do I access the animator parameter "direction" values in this case to use conditions in the script. Please find the attachment of the animator.

[1]: /storage/temp/53297-animator.png