Core: How to implement my own helper functions safely?

[ttvd94]

What is the best and safest way to implement my own functions? Should I include them in hook.php?
I want my functions to be able to use the current exiting classes (this plugin's) as well (like getMessage()).

I'm not much familiar with classes in programming.

[noplanman]

Maybe this wiki article can help you:
https://github.com/php-telegram-bot/core/wiki/Snippets

[jacklul]

I personally use composer autoloader with my own namespaces, putting all classes in one directory.

[noplanman]

I'd personally go with @jacklul's suggestion too, to implement all your code in own classes.

I'm not much familiar with classes in programming.

This is why I thought of pointing you to the wiki 😊

[ttvd94]

@jacklul, I don't have access to terminal with my hosting plan. Can I still use composer for that purpose?

[jacklul]

I believe there were wrappers to use composer from webspace, you can always run composer locally and then upload vendor directory.

[ttvd94]

@jacklul thank you very much for helping.

[ttvd94]

@noplanman, I'm now more familiar with and interested in OOP. Can you give me some examples on how to implement my own helper class using composer with my own namespaces?

[noplanman]

@ttvd94 Great to hear that you're getting more into OOP :tada:

To use the composer autoloader, I suggest to get a bit familiar with it by reading here:
https://getcomposer.org/doc/04-schema.md#autoload

Depending on how you want to manage your namespaces, you need to choose the specific autoloading method.

Give it a try and let me know if you need more help!

[ttvd94]

@noplanman I read the article and also watched some youtubes, but couldn't get the autoloader to work. I keep getting this error:
PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Class 'Longman\TelegramBot\Helpers' not found in /path_to_bot/Commands/StartCommand.php:59

Here is my composer.json file:

{
    "name": "telegram-bot/project-name",
    "type": "project",
    "description": "Project description",
    "license": "MIT",
    "autoload": {
        "psr-4": {
            "Helpers\\": "Helpers/"
        }
    },
    "require": {
        "longman/telegram-bot": "*"
    }
}

And here is my folder structure:

bot-root/
├── commands/
├── Helpers/
│   ├── Helpers.php
├── vendor/
├── composer.json
├── composer.lock
└── hook.php

And StartCommand.php looks like:

<?php
namespace Longman\TelegramBot\Commands\SystemCommands;

use Longman\TelegramBot\Commands\SystemCommand;
use Longman\TelegramBot\Helpers;
use Longman\TelegramBot\Request;

class StartCommand extends SystemCommand
{
    protected $name = 'start';
    protected $description = 'Start command';
    protected $usage = '/start';
    protected $version = '1.1.0';
    protected $private_only = true;

    public function execute()
    {
        $message = $this->getMessage();
        $helpers = new Helpers();
        return Request::sendMessage(['chat_id'=> $chat_id, 'text'=> $helpers->hey()]);
    }
}

And Helpers.php:
``` namespace LongmanTelegramBot;

class Helpers {
public function __construct() {}
public function hey() {
return 'heyy';
}
}
```

[noplanman]

Ah of course, because you'll have to add the namespace you used in your Helper.php file, which should be namespace Helpers;.

So in your StartCommand.php you need to put use Helpers\Helpers; (instead of use Longman\TelegramBot\Helpers;)

[noplanman]

@ttvd94 Can we close here then?

[ttvd94]

Sure. Thanks for your help @noplanman <3