Elseif never executing in onCommand

Question

I am trying to make a plugin that adds "variables" into commands. You use /set (variablename) (value) to set a value and then you can use any command with var:(varname) (For example you could do /set foo bar and then do "/say var:foo" and it would say "bar" in chat) For some reason my

else if(Arrays.toString(args).contains("var:")) {

is either never executing or always returning false. Why is this, and how can I fix it?

Main plugin class:

public class main extends JavaPlugin implements Listener {
    List<String> vars = new ArrayList<String>();
     public void onEnable()
     {
       getLogger();
       getServer().getPluginManager().registerEvents(this, this);
       Bukkit.getConsoleSender().sendMessage(ChatColor.GREEN + "Variables Enabled!");
     }

     public void onDisable()
     {
        Bukkit.getConsoleSender().sendMessage(ChatColor.GREEN + "Variables Disabled!");
     }

    @Override
    public boolean onCommand(CommandSender sender, Command command,
            String label, String[] args) {
            if(command.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("set")) {
                vars.add(args[0] + ":" + args[1]);
                sender.sendMessage(ChatColor.RED + "Variable " + args[0] + " added with the value " + args[1]);
            }else if(Arrays.toString(args).contains("var:")) { //Line problem is on
                int size = args.length;
                   for (int i=0; i<size; i++)
                   {
                      if(args[i].contains("var:")) {
                          String[] parts = args[i].split(":");
                          for (String temp : vars) {
                              String[] varname = temp.split(":");
                              if(varname[1].equals(parts[1])) {
                                  args[i] = varname[2];
                              }
                          }
                      }
                   }

            }
        return super.onCommand(sender, command, label, args);
    }

     }

EDIT: The way I know it is a problem with my else if is that if I add sender.sendMessage("test"); right under the elseif I never get the message "test" even when I have var: in my args.

EDIT 2: I've figured out one part of it. For some reason whenever I do something like /say or /broadcast the onCommand doesn't get fired...

Answer 1

It seems that your problem is not with the else if but with the innermost if. You compare the variable name of your command (foo) with the previously stored value (bar). Try instead:

                          if(varname[0].equals(parts[1])) {
                              args[i] = varname[1];
                          }

Of course, it would be even better to use more appropriate collection types. For example vars might be a Map<String, String>.

Answer 2

I solved my own problem! The problem is that onCommand only fires when taking commands from your plugin. I had to use a playercommandpreprocessevent for this.

Answer 3

The onCommand() method won't enable you to filter all the command requests being sent by a player, it only lets you implement the commands you listed in your plugin.yml. I would instead use the PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent which does allow you to "catch" all the commands a player tries to execute before they are handled by a specific plugin and change the command as well as the subsequent arguments.

I would also use a HashMap instead of a List that will map the names and values of the String variables to each other. Here's some example code I tested that should work:

//Somewhere else
private HashMap<String, String> variableMap = new HashMap<String, String>();

public boolean onCommand(CommandSender sender, Command command, String alias, String[] args) {
    if (command.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("set")) {
        if (args.length == 2) { //With this approach, the first argument is the name, the second the value
            variableMap.put(args[0], args[1]);
            sender.sendMessage(ChatColor.GREEN + "Variable " + args[0] + " now has value " + args[1] + ".");
        }
    }
    return false;
}

@EventHandler
public void onCommand(PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent event) {
    String[] args = event.getMessage().split(" "); //Get the message and split it to get the arguments
    String newMessage = args[0]; //In this example I preserve the original command, so I'm not changing the first argument
    for (int i = 1; i < args.length; i++) {
        if (args[i].toLowerCase().startsWith("var:")) { //If it starts with "var:", case insensitive...
            String[] parts = args[i].split(":");
            if (parts.length == 2 && variableMap.containsKey(parts[1])) { //If it has two parts, and the variable map contains the name of that variable
                newMessage += " " + variableMap.get(parts[1]); //Add the variable name and not the original argument
                continue;
            }
        }
        newMessage += " " + args[i]; //If the argument is not a variable or it is wrongly formatted, add the original argument to the combined string
    }
    event.setMessage(newMessage); //Set the new command message or contents
}