Creating Custom Libraries In ExpressionEngine

Question

In EE I am trying to create a php class that will query an API. When I look at the documentation for creating your own library classes (here: https://docs.expressionengine.com/latest/development/legacy/libraries/creating-libraries.html) I see that it says this about storing the library:

Your library classes should be placed within your system/ee/user/addons/addon_name/libraries directory, as this is where ExpressionEngine will look for them.

I don't see this directory anywhere in my project. Out of exhaustion I tried creating it and made a test class (just copied the example from the documentation except with an echo in the method) and loaded it, which resulted in an error... which I was expecting.

This is in system/ee/user/addons/addon_name/libraries/Someclass.php

<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

class Someclass {

    public function some_method()
    {
      echo 'test';
    }
}

With this in a template:

<?php
    ee()->load->library('someclass');
    ee()->someclass->some_method();
?>

This gives me a load error:

Error
Unable to load the requested class: someclass

At this point I'm not sure if I'm simply too tired and not understanding the documentation or if I'm in the Twilight Zone.

Can anyone clarify this for me? I would greatly appreciate it.

Answer 1

Have you created all the necessary files for your add-on? I'm not sure EE will look for your library file in an empty add-on folder.

You need to make sure you have an addon.setup.php file at least, and possibly the basic framework for a module I believe for EE to try and load any libraries from your addon. You may need to install said module as well for it to be accessible. Try that first.

https://docs.expressionengine.com/latest/development/addon-setup-php-file.html

Also, what EE version are you running? And are you actually calling your addon addon_name? I highly recommend building a bare-bones module, adding your library to it, and installing it into your EE installation, that should work.

I definitely think you can't just have a random library folder in a non-complete non-installed add-on, you need to install a module for EE to look for a library folder and files in that add-on folder.

Edit

It seems you need a little help with setting up an add-on. I will try and make things clear and hopefully that will help.

Third party add-ons live in a folder of their own, inside of this folder:

system/ee/user/addons/

For this example, I am going to call my add-on jrothafers_addon. So to start, I will create this folder:

system/ee/user/addons/jrothafers_addon

In this folder, I will create my addon.setup.php file. The link above in my answer will help you fill out that file. Next, you will want to create either a plugin or module file. In this case, I will create a plugin file:

system/ee/user/addons/jrothafers_addon/pi.jrothafers_addon.php

Please note the name of that file, as well as the name of the folder being the same. In that file, I will have this code:

<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

class Jrothafers_addon
{

    public $return_data = '';

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->return_data = 'Hello World';
    }
}

Again, it is very important to note that the class name has a capital letter first, and the rest is exactly the same as the file name and folder name (jrothafers_addon). If you don't get this right, EE won't recognize your add-on.

After I have this setup, I can go to my ExpressionEngine control panel and visit Developer -> Add-Ons. If I scroll down, I will see my add-on listed under Third Party Add-ons. Once here, I can install my add-on.

So after all that happens, I'm hoping that you can access your library, which in my example, would live here:

system/ee/user/addons/jrothafers_addon/libraries/Someclass.php