C++ & SDL: SDL event repeats endlessly - c++

Question

I have this code which is a part of a simple SDL-based game:
SDL_PollEvent(&event);
switch (event.type){
case SDL_QUIT:
quit = true;
break;
case SDL_KEYDOWN: //Det här är för när en knapp trycks ner...
switch (event.key.keysym.sym){
case SDLK_RIGHT:
player1.x_vel = 5.5;
std::cout<<"OOOO\n";
break;
case SDLK_DOWN:
player2_sprite.src.x = 58;
break;
}
break;
case SDL_KEYUP: //Det här är för när en knapp släpps upp..
switch (event.key.keysym.sym){
case SDLK_UP:
std::cout<<"haaaaa\n";
if(player1.canJump){
player1.y_vel = -7.5;
player1.canJump = false;
}
break;
case SDLK_DOWN:
std::cout<<"BBBB\n";
player2_sprite.src.x = 0;
break;
}
break;
}
Now, upon the release of the UP or DOWN arrow key, the release-event keeps triggering forever until any other event is handled. What am I doing wrong here?

Answer 1

You should be checking the return value of SDL_PollEvent. It returns 1 if there is an event to handle, and 0 if there is not. Normally, you handle events in a loop like this (copied from the documentation here):
while (1) {
SDL_Event event;
while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
// handle your event here
}
// do some other stuff here -- draw your app, etc.
}
What is probably happening in your case, is you are handling the event even when SDL_PollEvent returns 0. The event object is left unmodified in that case, so you keep handling the most recent event over and over.