Can't Find PHP Library In My Project

Question

I'm not a web dev (I'm a mobile developer) and trying to figure this out.

1. I'm using this library: https://github.com/ktamas77/firebase-php

2. I got 'composer' installed on my machine by following the documentation on composer's site.

3. I have installed the library in #1 by using this command: 'php composer.phar require ktamas77/firebase-php dev-master'

4. In a certain screen or php file in my project, I'm adding this:

   $firebase = new \\Firebase\\FirebaseLib(DEFAULT_URL, DEFAULT_TOKEN);

and when I run or go to that specific screen, there's an error like this:

Message: Class 'Firebase\\FirebaseLib' not found

My question is: Why is that? Why can't this freakin php project find that FirebaseLib? I can verify that I have such file in my project, cause I can open the file from that code above.

The path of that file is this:

'/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/xxx-cms/vendor/ktamas77/firebase-php/src/firebaseLib.php'

Is adding 'require' at the top of my php file required?

I tried adding require but the error goes to that require when adding that.

Lastly, I even modified my composer.json and added "autoload" as was suggested here: How does PHP connection to firebase work?

{
    "description": "The CodeIgniter framework",
    "name": "codeigniter/framework",
    "type": "project",
    "homepage": "https://codeigniter.com",
    "license": "MIT",
    "support": {
        "forum": "http://forum.codeigniter.com/",
        "wiki": "https://github.com/bcit-ci/CodeIgniter/wiki",
        "irc": "irc://irc.freenode.net/codeigniter",
        "source": "https://github.com/bcit-ci/CodeIgniter"
    },
    "require": {
        "php": ">=5.2.4",
        "ktamas77/firebase-php": "dev-master"
    },
    "suggest": {
        "paragonie/random_compat": "Provides better randomness in PHP 5.x"
    },
    "require-dev": {
        "mikey179/vfsStream": "1.1.*"
    },
    "autoload": {
        "classmap": ["vendor/ktamas77/firebase-php/src/firebaseLib.php"]
        "files": ["vendor/ktamas77/firebase-php/src/firebaseLib.php"]
    }

}

Unfortunately I wasn't able to do this instruction from that SO answer:

Then simply require Composer's Autoloader with require "vendor/autoload.php"; and new Firebase to autoload the class.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You need to add the autoloader from composer into your base script or some bootstrap file.

Something like:

require "vendor/autoload.php";

---

Autoloading - Composer Docs

Check the Composer documentation for more in depth usage of the vendor/autoload.php , where and how to use it, etc. From those docs:

For libraries that specify autoload information, Composer generates a vendor/autoload.php file. You can simply include this file and start using the classes that those libraries provide without any extra work:

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$log = new Monolog\Logger('name');
$log->pushHandler(new Monolog\Handler\StreamHandler('app.log', Monolog\Logger::WARNING));
$log->addWarning('Foo');