I'm working on an item that, when right-clicked, pushes back entities in a circle around the player. However, I want the entity to be pushed back following the same line; right now, the entities are pushed back into the closest corner. Additionally, I don't want the item to push entities through walls(so setting entity.posX/entity.posY directly or using entity::moveTo won't work). Here's the code that I have now:

 

@Override
    public ActionResult<ItemStack> onItemRightClick(ItemStack itemStackIn, World worldIn, EntityPlayer playerIn, EnumHand hand) {
        AxisAlignedBB aabb = playerIn.getEntityBoundingBox().expand(playerIn.posX + range, playerIn.posY + range, playerIn.posZ + range);
        List<Entity> entityList = worldIn.getEntitiesWithinAABBExcludingEntity(playerIn, aabb);
        for (Entity entity : entityList){
            if (entity instanceof EntityLiving){
                rebukeEntityFromPlayer((EntityLiving) entity, playerIn);
            }
        }

        return super.onItemRightClick(itemStackIn, worldIn, playerIn, hand);
    }

    private void rebukeEntityFromPlayer(EntityLiving entity, EntityPlayer player){
        //Creates xy plane with player at center by getting the directional distance between the coords of the entity and the player
        double adjX = entity.posX - player.posX;
        double adjZ = entity.posZ - player.posZ;

        //Creates a triangle to describe the distance between the entity and player
        double startSideA = adjX;
        double startSideB = adjZ;
        double startHyp = Math.sqrt((Math.pow(startSideA, 2) + Math.pow(startSideB, 2)));

        //Scales the triangle to get the point the entity should be pushed to
        double scaleFactor = range/startHyp;
        if(scaleFactor <= 1){return;}//stops spell if entity is already out of target area.
        double scaledSideA = startSideA*scaleFactor;
        double scaledSideB = startSideB*scaleFactor;

        double desiredPosX = adjX + (scaledSideA - startSideA);
        double desiredPosZ = adjZ + (scaledSideB - startSideB);

        if(Math.abs(adjX) < Math.abs(desiredPosX)){
            if(desiredPosX >= 0){
                entity.motionX = 3;
            } else if(desiredPosX < 0){
                entity.motionX = -3;
            }
        }
        if(Math.abs(adjZ) < Math.abs(desiredPosZ)){
            if(desiredPosZ >= 0){
                entity.motionZ = 3;
            } else if(desiredPosZ < 0){
                entity.motionZ = -3;
            }
        }

    }

Additionally, here are some images to help convey my problem: Ideal Scenario, Current scenario

The problem is that you apply a flat value to the entity's motion, rather than a value computed from the angle of attack (Math.sin and Math.cos). "Oh, the entity is 0.1 not far enough away on the X axis! Shove him 3 units away!"

 

Also, drop the Math.pow(startSideA,2) nonsense. That's more expensive than startSideA*startSideA.

21 minutes ago, Draco18s said:

 a value computed from the angle of attack (Math.sin and Math.cos). 

I'm not 100% sure of what you mean. Do you mean doing something like 

entity.motionX = scaledSideB * Math.cos(Math.acos(startSideA/startHyp));

 

startSideB is already the distance from the player on the Y axis. Why would you arc-cosine the ratio of side A over the hypotenuse, then cosine the result (resulting in the ratio of side A over the hypotenuse again...)?

 

Christ man, use the ratios of similar triangles.

 

You want the enemy to be 3 units away. You know how far away the enemy is. Divide and multiply.

maybe this can help you

public boolean itemInteractionForEntity(ItemStack itemstack,EntityPlayer playerIn, EntityLivingBase doel, EnumHand hand) {
		if(!doel.world.isRemote){
		doel.motionY = 0.3;
			if (isgeladen(itemstack.getItemDamage())){
				doel.motionX = (doel.posX - playerIn.posX)*2;
				doel.motionZ = (doel.posZ - playerIn.posZ)*2;
				itemstack.setItemDamage(0);
			}else{
				itemstack.setItemDamage(itemstack.getItemDamage()+1);
			}
		}
		return false;
	}