Navigating the Bukkit API documentation

We can look through this documentation to get a general idea of what we are able to modify on a CraftBukkit server. Server-side plugins are different from client-side mods. We are limited with what we are able to modify in the game using server-side plugins. For example, we cannot create a new type of block but we can make lava blocks rain from the sky. We cannot make zombies look and sound like dinosaurs but we can put a zombie on a leash, change its name to Fido and have it not burn in the daylight. For the most part you cannot change the visual aspect of the game, but you can change how it functions. This ensures that everyone who connects to the server with a standard Minecraft client will have the same experience.

For some more examples on what we can do, we will view various pages of the API docs. You will notice that the classes are organized into several packages. These packages help group similar classes together. For example, a Cow, a Player, and a Zombie are all types of entities and thus can be found in the org.bukkit.entity package. So if I were to say that the World interface can be found at org.bukkit.World then you will know that the World class can be found within the bukkit package, which is inside the org package. Knowing this will help you find the classes that you are looking for. The search bar near the top right corner of the Doxygen site is another way to quickly find a class.

Let's look at the World class and see what it has to offer. The classes are listed in alphabetical order so we will find World near the end of the list within the bukkit package. Once you click on the World class link, all of its methods will be displayed in the main column of the site under the header Public Member Functions as shown in the following screenshot:

A World object is an entire world on your server. By default, a Minecraft server has multiple worlds including the main world, nether, and end. CraftBukkit even allows you to add additional worlds. The methods that are listed in the World class apply to the specific world object. For example, the Bukkit.getWorlds() method will give you a list of all the worlds that are on the server; each one is unique. Therefore if you were to call the getName() method on the first world it may return world while calling the same method on the second world may return world_nether.