Loading a hashmap from a file

I have been trying to load a hashmap from a file but every time it returns null. The hashmap isn't null as it contains this...

Code:

EFFECTS:
    FIRE_RESISTANCE: 2

After inserting a check to see if the configuration section is equal to null, the hashmap just seems to reset itself so it only adds the value I just entered.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Code:

public HashMap<String, Integer> effects = new HashMap<String, Integer>();

Loading...

Code:

        if (plugin.settings.getConfig().getConfigurationSection("CLASSES." + classname.toUpperCase() + ".EFFECTS") != null) {
            for (String key : plugin.settings.getConfig().getConfigurationSection("CLASSES." + classname.toUpperCase() + ".EFFECTS").getKeys(true)) {
                effects.put(key, plugin.settings.getConfig().getInt("CLASSES." + classname.toUpperCase() + ".EFFECTS." + key));
            }
        }

Setting...

Code:

        plugin.settings.getConfig().set("CLASSES." + classname.toUpperCase() + ".EFFECTS", effects);
        plugin.settings.saveConfig();

 

@benzimmer123
You're getting the values from "CLASSES.<classname>.EFFECTS" but your config says it's just "EFFECTS".
Also, you can do that, it's way for efficient especially for large amount of values:

Code:

effect = getConfig().getConfigurationSection("EFFECTS").getValues(false);[/code