Event handling bug with SDL - c++

Question

I am making a snake game using SDL and C++, and I found a bug involving events.
In this game, there are two important functions for now : the play function (the "main" function of the game) and the pause function. When the P key is pressed, the play function calls and executes the pause function. In it, you have two possibilities: either continue or quit the game.
Now, here is the problem. When I try to click "Continue game", the game flashes for a split second and comes back to the pause menu. When I keep the mouse button down, I realize the game itself is frozen until an event of any kind happens. If it does, it just comes back to where it was.
After some tests, I also noticed that the bug was due to the SDL_PollEvent function. So I changed this function in the play function to SDL_WaitEvent, which put the game back when I asked him to. However, another problem is created: since, in my play function, there is a timer that uses SDL_GetTicks, the game needs a trigger event to be fluid. For example, when I constantly move the cursor in any direction, the game can run. When I stop, it freezes.
Is there a way to fix this bug?
Here is the event handler in the play function:
SDL_PollEvent(&event); // Handle events
switch(event.type)
{
case SDL_QUIT:
quit = true;
break;
case SDL_KEYDOWN:
switch(event.key.keysym.sym) // Change direction at certain key press
{
case SDLK_s:
currentDirection = SNAKE_DOWN;
break;
case SDLK_w:
currentDirection = SNAKE_UP;
break;
case SDLK_a:
currentDirection = SNAKE_LEFT;
break;
case SDLK_d:
currentDirection = SNAKE_RIGHT;
break;
case SDLK_ESCAPE: // Quit if escape key pressed
quit = true;
break;
case SDLK_p:
if (pause(screen) == false)
quit = true;
break;
break;
default: ; // Code to block the compiler's -Wall flag (does not do anything to the program itself)
}
break;
}
And here is the complete pause function:
bool pause(SDL_Surface *screen)
{
SDL_Surface *pauseMessage, *continueButton, *quitButton;
SDL_Rect posPauseMessage, posContinueButton, posQuitButton;
TTF_Font *fipps;
SDL_Color color = {255, 255, 255};
SDL_Event event;
int x = 0, y = 0;
bool quit = false, returnFalse = false;
fipps = TTF_OpenFont("fipps.ttf", 50);
pauseMessage = TTF_RenderText_Blended(fipps, "PAUSED", color);
continueButton = TTF_RenderText_Blended(fipps, "Continue Game", color);
quitButton = TTF_RenderText_Blended(fipps, "Exit to menu", color);
posPauseMessage.x = (screen->w - pauseMessage->w) / 2;
posPauseMessage.y = 200;
posContinueButton.x = (screen->w - continueButton->w) / 2;
posContinueButton.y = posPauseMessage.y + 200;
posQuitButton.x = (screen->w - quitButton->w) / 2;
posQuitButton.y = posContinueButton.y + 100;
while (!quit)
{
SDL_WaitEvent(&event);
switch(event.type)
{
case SDL_QUIT:
returnFalse = true;
quit = true;
break;
case SDL_MOUSEBUTTONUP:
x = event.button.x;
y = event.button.y;
if ((x > posContinueButton.x) && (x < posContinueButton.x + continueButton->w) && (y > posContinueButton.y) && (y < posContinueButton.y + continueButton->h))
quit = true;
else if ((x > posQuitButton.x) && (x < posQuitButton.x + quitButton->w) && (y > posQuitButton.y) && (y < posQuitButton.y + quitButton->h))
returnFalse = true;
quit = true;
break;
}
SDL_FillRect(screen, NULL, SDL_MapRGB(screen->format, 0, 0, 0));
SDL_BlitSurface(pauseMessage, NULL, screen, &posPauseMessage);
SDL_BlitSurface(continueButton, NULL, screen, &posContinueButton);
SDL_BlitSurface(quitButton, NULL, screen, &posQuitButton);
SDL_Flip(screen);
}
TTF_CloseFont(fipps);
SDL_FreeSurface(pauseMessage);
SDL_FreeSurface(continueButton);
SDL_FreeSurface(quitButton);
if (returnFalse)
return false;
return true;
}

Answer 1

Thanks to #jordsti, I found a solution : I need to put the SDL_PollEvent as a condition for a while loop, which contains the switch block.