How to properly add external php files in Laravel 5 - laravel-5

Question

I have a small websockets chat written, the php part is just 2 files, server.php and Chat.php, they are both inside a bin folder and depend on ratchet and some other libraries which I downloaded to the laravel installation via composer.
server.php
require __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';
require 'Chat.php';
use Ratchet\Server\IoServer;
use Ratchet\http\HttpServer;
use Ratchet\WebSocket\WsServer;
$server = IoServer::factory(new HttpServer(new WsServer(new Chat)), 8080);
$server->run();
Chat.php
use Ratchet\MessageComponentInterface;
use Ratchet\ConnectionInterface;
class Chat implements MessageComponentInterface {
protected $clients;
function __construct() {
$this->clients = new \SplObjectStorage;
}
public function onOpen(ConnectionInterface $conn)
{
$this->clients->attach($conn);
}
public function onMessage(ConnectionInterface $conn, $msg)
{
foreach ($this->clients as $client)
{
if ($client !== $conn ) {
$client->send($msg);
}
}
}
public function onClose(ConnectionInterface $conn)
{
$this->clients->detach($conn);
}
public function onError(ConnectionInterface $conn, \Exception $e)
{
echo 'the following error occured: ' . $e->getMessage();
$conn->close();
}
}
Now, I have that bin folder inside the laravel root, and so I am able to start the server since the server.php is looking for dependencies in vendor one level up, but what I wanna do is use all the laravel goodies within these files, especially within Chat.php.
So now for example if I write use DB in Chat.php it gives an error (which I understand, it has no way of knowing laravel), so my question is how do I include this bin folder and its files so that I can use all the laravel goodies within them?

Answer 1

You do not need to manually load vendor/autoload.php because laravel does that for you.
First you have to create folder inside your YourLaravelRoot/app dir(Let's name that as Services). Then move chat.php into that, rename it to ChatService.php(Change class name also to ChatService) or any appropriate name(reccomanded to ends with xxxxService so it's easier to identify) and namespace it as namespace App\Services;(Assumming that your app name is App).Namespacing correctly is important otherwise you have to manually loads it throught composer.json .Then create a artisan command and move content of server.php into handle method inside command(Let's name it ServerCommand.php). Add use App\Services\ChatService as Chat;. Register the command in Kernal.php on app/console That's it. Now you should be able to access any laravel facade inside ChatService
Summary:
YourLaravelProject
-app
--Console
Kernal.php
<?php
namespace App\Console;
use Illuminate\Console\Scheduling\Schedule;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Console\Kernel as ConsoleKernel;
class Kernel extends ConsoleKernel
{
/**
* The Artisan commands provided by your application.
*
* #var array
*/
protected $commands = [
Commands\ServerCommand::class,
];
/**
* Define the application's command schedule.
*
* #param \Illuminate\Console\Scheduling\Schedule $schedule
* #return void
*/
protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
{
// $schedule->command('inspire')
// ->hourly();
}
}
---Commands
----ServerCommand.php
<?php
namespace App\Console\Commands;
use Illuminate\Console\Command;
use Ratchet\Server\IoServer;
use Ratchet\Http\HttpServer;
use Ratchet\WebSocket\WsServer;
use App\Services\ChatService as Chat;
class ServerCommand extends Command
{
/**
* The name and signature of the console command.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $signature = 'server:run';
/**
* The console command description.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $description = 'Command description';
/**
* Create a new command instance.
*
* #return void
*/
public function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
}
/**
* Execute the console command.
*
* #return mixed
*/
public function handle()
{
$server = IoServer::factory(new HttpServer(new WsServer(new Chat)), 8080);
$server->run();
}
}
--Services
---ChatService.php
<?php
namespace App\Services;
use Ratchet\MessageComponentInterface;
use Ratchet\ConnectionInterface;
/**
*
*/
class ChatService implements MessageComponentInterface {
{
protected $clients;
function __construct() {
$this->clients = new \SplObjectStorage;
}
public function onOpen(ConnectionInterface $conn)
{
$this->clients->attach($conn);
}
public function onMessage(ConnectionInterface $conn, $msg)
{
foreach ($this->clients as $client)
{
if ($client !== $conn ) {
$client->send($msg);
}
}
}
public function onClose(ConnectionInterface $conn)
{
$this->clients->detach($conn);
}
public function onError(ConnectionInterface $conn, \Exception $e)
{
echo 'the following error occured: ' . $e->getMessage();
$conn->close();
}
}
Execute command php artisan server:run