[Tutorial] Creating a messages.yml file

Hello, I'm going to be showing you how to create a messages.yml files and refer to the messages in your plugin.

---

First, you need to check if the messages.yml file exist, and if not, to create it. Add this in your onEnable() method.

Code:

            File f = new File(getDataFolder()+File.separator+"messages.yml");
            if (!f.exists()) {
                try {
                    f.createNewFile();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }

Now that we have our empty messages.yml file, we need to populate it. Add this method in your main class, or in a separate class if you know how to call it.

Code:

    private void setMessage(String name, String message) {
        File f = new File(getDataFolder()+File.separator+"messages.yml");
        FileConfiguration config = YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(f);
        if (!config.isSet(name)) {
            config.set(name, message);
            try {
                config.save(f);
            } catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }

With that method, we can easily create messages in the messages.yml to be set by the user. Here is an example that would be put in the onEnable() method.

Code:

            File f = new File(getDataFolder()+File.separator+"messages.yml");
            if (!f.exists()) {
                try {
                    f.createNewFile();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
            setMessage("noPermission", "&cYou do not have permission.");

Since we want to have speedy access to these messages, lets put them in a hashmap.
First, create the hashmap in your main class.

Code:

    public static HashMap<String, String> messageData = new HashMap<String, String>();

Then, we will iterate through the messages.yml file and add all of the messages to the hashmap.
Here is the finished example onEnable() method.

Code:

    @Override
    public void onEnable() {
       
        File f = new File(getDataFolder()+File.separator+"messages.yml");
        if (!f.exists()) {
            try {
                f.createNewFile();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
       
        setMessage("noPermission", "&cYou do not have permission.");
       
        FileConfiguration config = YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(f);
        for (String message : config.getConfigurationSection("").getKeys(false)) {
            messageData.put(message, config.getString(message));
        }
       
        getLogger().info("Example plugin has been enabled!");
       
    }

Finally, you can now get the message from any class whenever you need.
Here is an example in the main class:

Code:

                    if (!player.hasPermission("your.permission")) {
                        player.sendMessage(ChatColor.translateAlternateColorCodes('&', messageData.get("noPermission")));
                        //Do whatever
                    }

And an example outside of the main class:

Code:

                    if (!player.hasPermission("your.permission")) {
                        player.sendMessage(ChatColor.translateAlternateColorCodes('&', yourMainClass.messageData.get("noPermission")));
                        //Do whatever
                    }

 

Another way: http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/language-files.149837/