Serious issues understanding namespacing in Laravel 5 - laravel

Question

I am having problems understanding namespacing. It just feels so stupid that for every Facade or helper I want to include, I need to included it in the controller file.
So, say I have this exerpt of my controller:
<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use App\Http\Requests;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Auction;
use App\Bid;
use App\BidBuy;
use App\Http;
use Redirect;
use Session;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Omnipay\Omnipay;
class PayPalController extends Controller {
private $data;
public function getPayment()
{
redirectIfNotLoggedIn();
}
The line with redirectIfNotLoggedIn(); is a function I want to call that is stored in App/Http/helpers.php
This is the file: helpers.php
<?php namespace App\Http;
class HelperFunctions {
// Filter for guest only pages
public function redirectIfLoggedIn() {
if (Session::has('steamid')) {
return Redirect::to('/');
} else {
return false;
}
}
// Filter for logged users only pages
public function redirectIfNotLoggedIn() {
if (Session::has('steamid')) {
return true;
} else {
return Redirect::to('/');
}
}
}
Back in the controller I have included: use App\Http;
When I go to call that function I get this:
FatalErrorException in PayPalController.php line 20:
Call to undefined function App\Http\Controllers\redirectIfNotLoggedIn()
EDIT:
Now I have: HelperFunctions.php located at App/Helpers/HelperFunctions.php:
<?php namespace App\Helpers;
use Session;
use Redirect;
// Filter for guest only pages
function redirectIfLoggedIn() {
if (Session::has('steamid')) {
return Redirect::to('/');
} else {
return false;
}
}
// Filter for logged users only pages
function redirectIfNotLoggedIn() {
if (Session::has('steamid')) {
return true;
} else {
return Redirect::to('/');
}
}
Excerpt of composer.json:
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"database"
],
"psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/"
},
"psr-0": {
"Ignited\\LaravelOmnipay": "src/"
},
"files": [
"app/Helpers/HelperFunctions.php"
]
},
And this is my controller:
<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers;
//use App\Helpers\HelperFunctions;
use App\Http\Requests;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Auction;
use App\Bid;
use App\BidBuy;
use Redirect;
use Session;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Omnipay\Omnipay;
class PayPalController extends Controller {
private $data;
public function getPayment(\App\Helpers\HelperFunctions $helper)
{
$helper->redirectIfNotLoggedIn();
}
.. rest of the controller code here ..
}

Answer 1

Do not use helpers for this. You are violating pretty much everything related to OOP in doing so.
Instead, use Middleware.
In your controller, simply require the auth middleware:
public function __construct()
{
$this->middleware("auth");
}
You are trying to solve a solved problem. If you need to do something before executing a route/controller method, middleware (the Laravel 5 replacement for route filters) should be used.
You will likely have to customise your own middleware, however, then add it to the middleware array in app/Http/Kernel.php. Just use php artisan make:middleware CustomAuthMiddleware.

Answer 2

You could use your HelperFunctions via method injection in your controller. Like this:
public function getPayment(\App\Http\HelperFunctions $helper)
{
$helper->redirectIfNotLoggedIn();
}
It's not tested.