How to create a button that sets a node value
There is a Field Button module that creates and renders a button.  You can then write a rule that is triggered by button clicks.  This works great if you only need one or two buttons on a page.  However, this module has trouble figuring out which node the button belongs to (and therefor may not be a good option for lists of nodes &amp; buttons rendered by views.) 

Another option is the Rules Link module.  This module does roughly the same thing.  It  is not as pretty, but it has better rule integration.