offline players?

org.bukkit.Server.getPlayer says it may return null for offline players. Is there a way to get info on offline players without manually looking in the world file and the player.dat files?

Specifically I'm trying to determine if a player exists with a certain name who may be offline. I could check if the name.dat file exists, but I'm hoping there is an easier way.

 

Why do you need an easier way?

Code:

boolean playerExists(String name)
{
   try
   {
      FileInputStream test = new FileInputStream("world/players/"+name+".dat);
   }
   catch (FileNotFoundException e)
   {
      //no player.dat file so return false
      return false;
   }
  //if code got this far then file must exist: return true
  return true;
}

should work I think (though not actually tested)

 

Why o to a fileystem level if maybe bukkit has it in memory.

 

How about this then as a slight improvement?

Code:

boolean playerExists(String name)
{
  if(referenceToServer.getPlayer(name) != null)
     return true;

   try
   {
      FileInputStream test = new FileInputStream("world/players/"+name+".dat);
   }
   catch (FileNotFoundException e)
   {
      return false;
   }
  return true;
}

 

Yes that's the best way I can think of, but what I was getting at is that he wanted to know if there is something like getOfflinePlayers() or something and that is WHY he wanted to know a better way than filesystem

Offtopic: Edward from your posts I can see that it's a real shame you live in England, otherwise I'd like to employ you

 

I will be using this approach to check for offline players. But the functionality to access offline players may be useful for a variety of reasons beyond just checking for existence so I was curious if the functionality existed. Apparently it does not. Thanks for the replies.