Namespaced helper won't load in Laravel 4 - namespaces

Question

I have a controller that calls a helper class in my app/helpers directory and then that helpers calls another class within it's namespace, but it can't find that class.
So here is my controller:
<?php
namespace App\Controllers\Dash;
use \App\Models\SalesFlyer;
use \App\Helpers\MyPdf;
class FlyerBuilderController extends BaseController {
public function getPdf($flyerId = null) {
$flyer = new SalesFlyer();
$flyerData = $flyer->getSalesFlyerName($flyerId);
$flyerPath = public_path().'/assets/media/flyers/'.Session::get('userid').'/'.$flyerData->name.'-'.$flyerId.'.html';
return MyPdf::downloadPdf($flyerPath, $flyerData->name);
}
}
It catches MyPdf class perfectly fine. Here is MyPdf class:
<?php
namespace App\Helpers;
class MyPdf {
public static function downloadPdf($filePath, $filename) {
$client = new PdfCrowd("anthonythomas", "1ebd0d6e3ec1dfa83a6c5f3dd32906f0");
// other code here
}
}
The PdfCrowd class is within App\Helpers namespace like so:
<?php
namespace App\Helpers;
//
// Pdfcrowd API client.
//
class PdfCrowd { }
Class 'App\Helpers\PdfCrowd' not found
Here is my start/global.php file:
<?php
ClassLoader::addDirectories(array(
app_path().'/commands',
app_path().'/controllers',
app_path().'/controllers/dash',
app_path().'/controllers/dash/product',
app_path().'/models/Product',
app_path().'/models',
app_path().'/database/seeds',
app_path().'/helpers',
));
Then here is my composer:
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"app/commands",
"app/controllers",
"app/controllers/dash",
"app/controllers/dash/product",
"app/models",
"app/models/Product",
"app/helpers",
"app/database/migrations",
"app/database/seeds",
"app/tests/TestCase.php"
]
}
Any idea why I'm getting that error?..

Answer 1

Everything looks fine but you also have to remember to
composer dump-autoload
Every time you create a new class. Also, check the file
vendor/composer/autoload_classmap.php
You must see your Helper class there.
But if you use PSR-4, you can use the same namespace and you won't have execute composer dump-autoload again:
"autoload": {
"psr-4": {
"App\\Helpers\\": "app/helpers"
}
},
Just remember to remove "app/helpers", from the classmap.

Answer 2

Ok for a shared hosting provider... EVERYTIME you add a new namespace and update composer even with psr-4 it seems, you have to replace the vendor directory with the current one on your local machine for it to actually go through! This saved me so much hours of time after I realized I had to replace the vendor directory everytime a composer dump-autoload was issued locally.