SDL_KEYDOWN Not Recognizing Some Keystrokes (A-Z, 0-9 & Space) - c++

Question

I'm rewriting some SDL things for practice from my Linux/Codeblocks setup to my Win7/VisStudio setup and I've hit an odd road block. SDL recognizes some keystrokes but not others. It reads the arrow keys, shift, alt, ctrl and a handful of others but it doesn't recognize a majority of keys, a-z 0-9, Space among others.
Neither:
SDL_GetScancodeName(event->key.keysym.scancode)
nor
SDL_GetKeyName(event->key.keysym.sym)
print any response from the problematic keys with a printf but responds fine for the working keys.
I double checked that my keyboard was set to English and I also tried a USB keyboard as opposed to my usual PS2 board just in case for some reason those were interfering but no result.
I've tried to find similar questions but I can't seem to find any that have specific keystroke problems like this.
Visual Studio 2017. SDL2, using libsdl.org's Dev libs. x86 if it matters.
EDIT:
I treated the symptoms but not the fever. If anyone could help I would like to have a better understanding for what went wrong and some better solutions.
I was trying to detect when no keys were being pressed, my original code was to follow:
if (e.type == SDL_KEYDOWN)
with an:
else
for when no keys were pressed. This worked fine except for the problem keys.
I'm curious as to why this only affected some keys and possibly an alternative to detecting when no keys are pressed.
Here's an excerpt of the code I was using:
while (SDL_PollEvent(&e) != 0)
{
if (e.type == SDL_KEYDOWN)
{
switch (e.key.keysym.sym)
{
case SDLK_UP:
keyPressed = "Up";
printf("Keypress test: Up\n");
break;
case SDLK_SPACE:
keyPressed = "Space";
printf("Keypress test: Space\n");
break;
default:
break;
}
}
else
{
keyPressed = "None";
}
}
With the else I can correctly return the string keyPressed for SDLK_UP but not SDLK_SPACE. In this case both printf in the switch occur so I definitely step into it but the else seems to overwrite the string. Removing the else makes both work perfectly but then I can't detect when no keys are pressed.
I assume there is just something about SDLK_SPACE A-Z and 0-9 that I don't understand that causes the program to step into the else.
I quickly made a git to post the code:
https://github.com/TorsvikVonClemson/AloeFoil00
It should display 5 shapes and a test rectangle. One for no key presses, on for each arrow key and the rect while pressing space.
Apologies if its sloppy, I haven't quite figured how to post straight from VS17.

Answer 1

Although this is a question from four years ago, I still want to provide my answer to help others in need.
// In your main loop
SDL_Event event;
while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
switch (event.type) {
case SDL_KEYDOWN:
{
switch (event.key.keysym.sym) {
case SDLK_ESCAPE:
std::cout << "I want quit game\n"; // Working
break;
case SDLK_p:
std::cout << "I want pause game\n"; // Not working
break;
default:
break;
}
}
break;
case SDL_TEXTINPUT:
std::cout << event.text.text;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
If you check event type SDL_TEXTINPUT, you will find 0-9, a-z, etc. just go into case SDL_TEXTINPUT.
The soluction is SDL_StopTextInput, It's obvious:
// In your main loop
SDL_StopTextInput(); // Stop text input first.
SDL_Event event;
while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
switch (event.type) {
case SDL_KEYDOWN:
{
switch (event.key.keysym.sym) {
case SDLK_ESCAPE:
std::cout << "I want quit game\n"; // Working
break;
case SDLK_p:
std::cout << "I want pause game\n"; // Working now🎉🎉🎉
break;
default:
break;
}
}
break;
case SDL_TEXTINPUT:
std::cout << event.text.text; // bye bye text input event 🎃
break;
default:
break;
}
}
If you want to reopen text input, just use SDL_StartTextInput.
Thanks #HolyBlackCat comment :)