Laravel: load custom class from new custom directory - laravel-4

Question

I have currently added a new folder to my app directory for all my 'libraries'. I keep recieving an error that the class is not found, this is what I do:
I have added it to the composer.json file in the autoload value:
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"app/commands",
"app/controllers",
"app/models",
"app/database/migrations",
"app/database/seeds",
"app/tests/TestCase.php",
"app/services",
"app/facades",
"app/libraries" --> here
]
},
Added it to my global.php file in the classloader:
ClassLoader::addDirectories(array(
app_path().'/commands',
app_path().'/controllers',
app_path().'/models',
app_path().'/database/seeds',
app_path().'/libraries', --> here
));
Created an alias for it in app.php:
'aliases' => array(
'App' => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\App',
'Session' => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Session',
...
'SimpleImage' => 'App\Libraries\abeautifulsite\SimpleImage', --> here
),
And called the class in my controller:
$img = new SimpleImage($file);
The error I keep receiving is that the class is not found. What am I missing?
ErrorException (E_UNKNOWN)
Class 'App\Libraries\abeautifulsite\SimpleImage' not found
(PS. I did composer dump-autoload in terminal)

Answer 1

The best way to add a custom folder in your Laravel project is using PSR-4.
First of all create your custom directory in /app, for example:
/app/YourName/libraries
now open composer.json and just after the autoload -> classmap add the psr-4 structure:
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"app/commands",
"app/controllers",
"app/models",
"app/database/migrations",
"app/database/seeds",
"app/tests/TestCase.php",
"app/services",
"app/facades"
],
"psr-4": {
"YourName\\": "app/YourName"
}
},
Note that I removed your /app/libraries row, then run:
composer dump-autoload
In this way all the folders you will add in YourName folder will be loaded.
For example:
app/ChristianGiupponi/libraries
and
"psr-4": {
"ChristianGiupponi\\": "app/ChristianGiupponi"
}