How to include External classes for extensions in TYPO3?

Question

I have an extension named Menu which requires the help of the class MenuHelper in the folder ext/menu/Classes/Helper .

How do I use it in my controller? The class 'MenuHelper' is being accessed only when it is in the controller folder.

I want to use it in my controller like this :

public function listAction() {

        $menugenerators=new MenuHelper(); # Will return something 

        $this->view->assign('menugenerators', $menugenerators);
}

Answer 1

If you place a class in the directory yourExt/Classes/Helper/NestedDirectory/MenuHelper.php you have two ways to get the class in all other extbase files.

First way with TYPO3 > 6.0: Using namespaces

<?php
namespace YourVendor\YourExtension\Helper\NestedDirectory;

class MenuHelper {
}

?>

Now you can make an instance of this class using

$menuHelper = \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility::makeInstance("YourVendor\\YourExtension\\Helper\\NestedDirectory\\MenuHelper")

or simply by using

$menuHelper = new \YourVendor\YourExtension\Helper\NestedDirectory\MenuHelper();

---

Second way with TYPO3 <= 4.7

<?php

class Tx_YourExtension_Helper_NestedDirectory_MenuHelper {
}

?>

Now you can make an instance of this class using

$menuHelper = t3lib_div::makeInstance("Tx_YourExtension_Helper_NestedDirectory_MenuHelper")

or simply by using

$menuHelper = new Tx_YourExtension_Helper_NestedDirectory_MenuHelper();

The name of the class directs the class-loader to the correct path of the source file. It is very important that the file has the same name the class has.