PHPExcel class not found in Zend Autoloader - zend-framework

Question

I am struggling with namespaces in Zend Framework (at least I think it's a namespace issue).
I want to integrate PHPExcel into my Zend project. Relevant file structure is as follows:
/
-library
-ABCD
-PHPExcel
-Zend
-ZendX
-PHPExcel.php
Custom classes work fine, after
Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance()->registerNamespace('ABCD_');
in the bootstrap. Also, those classes are all named ABCD_blahdeblah.
However, doing registerNamespace('PHPExcel_') doesn't help Zend find the appropriate classes. When I try
$sheet = new PHPExcel;
in the controller, I get a "Class not found" error. I am guessing that this is either because classes in PHPExcel aren't named with the namespace prefix, or because the main PHPExcel.php file sits outside of the namespace I've just declared. But the PHPExcel structure demands that it sit in the parent directory of the rest of the class/font/etc files.
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Create an autoloader for PHPExcel and add it to the Zend autoloader stack.
In library/My/Loader/Autoloader/PHPExcel.php:
class My_Loader_Autoloader_PHPExcel implements Zend_Loader_Autoloader_Interface
{
public function autoload($class)
{
if ('PHPExcel' != $class){
return false;
}
require_once 'PHPExcel.php';
return $class;
}
}
And in application/configs/application.ini:
autoloadernamespaces[] = "My_"
Then, in application/Bootstrap.php:
protected function _initAutoloading()
{
$autoloader = Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance();
$autoloader->pushAutoloader(new My_Loader_Autoloader_PHPExcel());
}
Then you should be able to instantiate PHPExcel - say, in a controller - with a simple:
$excel = new PHPExcel();
The only sticky part is all of this is how PHPExcel handles loading all its dependencies within its own folder. If that is done intelligently - either with calls like require_once basename(__FILE__) . '/someFile.php' or with its own autoloader that somehow doesn't get in the way of the Zend autoloader - then all should be cool. #famouslastwords

Answer 2

Nowadays composer is a frequently used tool that wasn't so popular back in 2012. Even older projects built in ZF1 can make use of composer and its autoloader.
How to get all your libraries to work without having to add custom autoloaders to your application.ini each time?
Make use of composer's autoloader
First, start with setting up composer.json. Once created, run composer install to gather all required packages and create composer's autoloader.
Now, let's update your project's public/index.php. From now on all requirements that are loaded via composer will be autoloaded.
<?php
// Define path to application directory
defined('APPLICATION_PATH')
|| define('APPLICATION_PATH', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application'));
// Define application environment
defined('APPLICATION_ENV')
|| define('APPLICATION_ENV', (getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') ? getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') : 'development'));
// Include composer autoloader
require_once __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';
/** Zend_Application */
require_once 'Zend/Application.php';
// Create application, bootstrap, and run
$application = new Zend_Application(
APPLICATION_ENV,
array( 'config' => APPLICATION_PATH . '/configs/application.ini' )
);
$application->bootstrap();
$application->run();

Answer 3

Try modifying the PHPExcel autoloader:
Add
if (function_exists('__autoload')) {
spl_autoload_register('__autoload');
}
as the first two lines of the Register() method in /Classes/PHPExcel/Autoloader.php, immediately before
return spl_autoload_register(array('PHPExcel_Autoloader', 'Load'));

Answer 4

I've had a similar problem with both an exel-librare (phpxls) and a pdf-library (fpdf) and after some different tries I just settled with including the required file from the library manually and go from there. Booth phpxls and fdpd can then handle everything else without interfering with the zend autoloader methods.
A psudo_code example would look like this, where I return a object of the desired class and then can continue to work with that. You could offcourse choose to include things in the constructor and build from that.
<?php
class exelClass{
public function exelFunction(){
require_once 'required_file.php';
$exelObject = new exelObject();
return $exelObject->Output();
}
}
?>
This solution might not be that elegant, but I found that it was the easiest way to enable different types of libraries to co-exist without differnet autoloaders or magic functions interfearing with each other.