Newbie having trouble with first steps

davestrickler

While I'm a competent PHP programmer from the 5.x versions, but I'm clearly missing something here. I've followed the examples, setup (https://editor.datatables.net/manual/php/getting-started) by connecting to my database, and am running the following PHP:

// Running PHP Version 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.22
include("vendor/datatables/editor/php/DataTables.php");
use DataTables\Editor;
$editor = Editor::inst($db, 'system_logs', 'id');
Editor::inst( $db, 'system_logs', 'id' )
    ->fields(
        Field::inst( 'user_uuid' )
    );

When I run this, PHP errors with Fatal error: Class 'Field' not found in .../data_browser.php on line 7
I would have assumed that Field would be defined just like Editor, but I'm used to the OO model of $var = editor->function;, so I may be missing something obvious.

-- Dave

davestrickler

Update, I am getting it to work (I think) with this syntax:

$editor->fields(Editor\Field::inst('user_uuid'))

But I still can't explain why the example causes an error. Does 'Field' need to be prefixed as 'Editor\Field'?

tangerine

At the link you posted, find this:

Now the complete example is:

which shows the use of PHP namespaces.

allan

Yes, Editor's PHP libraries use namespaces to ensure code separation. You can either specify a fully qualified name space as you have above (Editor\Field, Editor\Join, etc) or your can make use of PHP's use statement to allow it to be shorten like in the Editor example.

If you have a look at the Editor PHP file examples you'll find:

// Alias Editor classes so they are easy to use
use
    DataTables\Editor,
    DataTables\Editor\Field,
    DataTables\Editor\Format,
    DataTables\Editor\Mjoin,
    DataTables\Editor\Options,
    DataTables\Editor\Upload,
    DataTables\Editor\Validate;

at the top of all of them just to make the code a little easier to read (full namespaces everywhere doesn't make for attractive code).

SitePoint have a good tutorial on namespaces.

Allan