Renamed childExists to child and return Option[ActorRef]. See #2343

akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefSpec.scala

@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ class ActorRefSpec extends AkkaSpec with DefaultTimeout {
             def receive = { case _ ⇒ }
           }), "child")
 
-        def receive = { case name: String ⇒ sender ! context.childExists(name) }
+        def receive = { case name: String ⇒ sender ! context.child(name).isDefined }
       }), "parent")
 
       assert(Await.result((parent ? "child"), remaining) === true)

akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala

@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ trait ActorContext extends ActorRefFactory {
   /**
    * Returns true if a child with the given name exists.
    */
-  def childExists(name: String): Boolean
+  def child(name: String): Option[ActorRef]
 
   /**
    * Returns the dispatcher (MessageDispatcher) that is used for this Actor.
@@ -155,6 +155,12 @@ trait UntypedActorContext extends ActorContext {
    */
   def getChildren(): java.lang.Iterable[ActorRef]
 
+  /**
+   * Returns a reference to the named child or null if no child with
+   * that name exists.
+   */
+  def getChild(name: String): ActorRef
+
   /**
    * Changes the Actor's behavior to become the new 'Procedure' handler.
    * Puts the behavior on top of the hotswap stack.

akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/cell/Children.scala

@@ -27,7 +27,11 @@ private[akka] trait Children { this: ActorCell ⇒
   final def children: Iterable[ActorRef] = childrenRefs.children
   final def getChildren(): java.lang.Iterable[ActorRef] = children.asJava
 
-  final def childExists(name: String): Boolean = childrenRefs.getByName(name).isDefined
+  final def child(name: String): Option[ActorRef] = childrenRefs.getByName(name).flatMap({
+    case s: ChildRestartStats ⇒ Some(s.child)
+    case ChildNameReserved    ⇒ None
+  })
+  final def getChild(name: String): ActorRef = child(name).getOrElse(null)
 
   def actorOf(props: Props): ActorRef =
     makeChild(this, props, randomName(), async = false, systemService = false)