How to implement a class using namespaces in PHP

Question

I am having trouble implementing a particular class in PHP. I want to use Anthony Ferrara's RandomLib library in my Zend Framework application (you can find it here.)

I've been programming in PHP for a few years now, so I know my way around it for the most part. But I have to admit that I'm kind of clueless when it comes to using classes that implement namespaces. Here's what I've got in my code:

public static function generateToken()
{
    require_once 'RandomLib/Factory.php';
    $factory = new \RandomLib\Factory;
    $generator = $factory->getMediumStrengthGenerator();
    return $generator->generate(16);
}

Unfortunately, I'm getting the following error:

Fatal error: Class 'SecurityLib\AbstractFactory' not found in C:\xampp\php\includes\RandomLib\Factory.php on line 30

Like I said, I really have no idea what's going on here. I don't know if I'm supposed to use some kind of use statement in my class or not.

Which version of ZF are you using? You'll need to configure your autoloader to also load RandomLib's classes correctly. — Maerlyn, Jun 06 '13 at 10:15
This has nothing to do with the namespace. I expect that the library uses an autoloader or something like that. you'll to make sure this works. check its documentation — hek2mgl, Jun 06 '13 at 10:15
I'm using version 1.11. And now, for another noob question: how do I go about configuring the autoloader to load the RandomLib classes correctly? — blainarmstrong, Jun 06 '13 at 10:16
I see the libary doesn't introduce its own autoloader. You should use the one from zend framework: http://framework.zend.com/manual/1.12/en/zend.loader.autoloader.html or [my one :)](https://github.com/metashock/Jm_Autoloader) — hek2mgl, Jun 06 '13 at 10:19

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 12 '13 at 21:33

With autoloader with ZF 1.*, asuming you put your factoru into application_name/libs/RandomLibFactory.php as RandomLibFactory class it should look like this:

public static function generateToken() {
    $factory = $locator = new RandomLibFactory();
    $generator = $factory->getMediumStrengthGenerator();
    return $generator->generate(16); }

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 13 '16 at 17:36

For anyone whom spent lot of time and didn't find a clue, tearing his hairs apart and hitting the wall to death:

you need to have an autoloader as in "bootstrap.php" in the folder "test/", to manage every namespace... or you need to link every file in the folder which is not very smart. See spl_autoload_register in php.net
you just downloaded RandomLib, which depends on another library (the author didn't mentioned it): so you need SecurityLib (it has the same folder structure: copy what is inside "lib/" into the other "lib/" folder.

example of autoloader for a script calling from the root folder "RandomLib-1.1.0/" (see that 'lib' in the $path ?):

spl_autoload_register(function ($class) {
    $nslen = strlen(__NAMESPACE__);
    if (substr($class, 0, $nslen) != __NAMESPACE__) {
        //Only autoload libraries from this package
        return;
    }
    $path = substr(str_replace('\\', '/', $class), $nslen);
    $path = __DIR__ . '/lib/' . $path . '.php';
    if (file_exists($path)) {
        require_once $path;
    }
});

now you are set and can use classes freely without worrying about including or requiring files.

$factory = new RandomLib\Factory;

$generator = $factory->getLowStrengthGenerator();
//$generator = $factory->getMediumStrengthGenerator();
//$generator = $factory->getHighStrengthGenerator();

$randomStringLength = 16;
$randomStringAlphabet = '0123456789@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ+/';
$randomString = '';

for ($i=0;$i<10;$i++){
    $randomString = $generator->generateString( $randomStringLength , $randomStringAlphabet);
    echo $randomString.'<br>';
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 03 '17 at 11:44

I too tore out many hairs, before I found the solution for my Windows machine.

I downloaded the Windows version of Composer (which I had barely heard of let alone used).
I used it to install RandomLib (as shown in the Install section of the instructions - use a command box in Windows)
This generated a vendor folder containing a composer folder an ircmaxell folder and an autoload.php file; these I uploaded to a suitable place in my website The vendor directory includes both the random-lib and the - required - security-lib libraries.
In the program in which I wanted to generate random text I included that autoload.php (preceded by suitable directory pointers)
Then I was good to go to create a factory, generator and string as shown in the library's instructions

How to implement a class using namespaces in PHP

3 Answers3