How to use a file inside templates folder outside of PW

[Juergen]

Hello @ all,

I have a general function file which is located in site/templates/ directory (path: site/templates/_functions.php). This file includes several functions which will be used across the site. It will be loaded in site/templates/_init.php with the following command:

require_once('./_functions.php');

This works.

Now I want to use a function of this file outside the templates folder. This folder is located in site/ajax directory (path: site/ajax/emailvalidation.php).

To use variables from PW outside the templates folder I bootstrap the index file like this:

include("../../index.php"); //bootstraping index.php

So this works, but unfortunately the _functions.php will not be fetched. So I have tried to include it via include but then I always the following error message.

Cannot redeclare ProcessWire\debug() (previously declared in /home/.sites/24/site1275/web/site/templates/_functions.php:59)

So it seems that _functions.php will be loaded. But if I remove this line than I get an error message that the function is unknown????

Call to undefined function _t(), did you mean _()?

So how can I use a function of a file inside the templates folder outside the templates folder. In this case it is a function for translateable strings.

Best regards

[dragan]

What is that line? _functions.php:59

Do you have PW namespace in _functions.php?

<?php namespace ProcessWire;

[Juergen]

Yes, that was one part of the problem. Including the same namespace in the file outside the PW folder removes the previous error messages, but the function do not work. Maybe I should remove the namespace in the _functions.php?

[Juergen]

Or is there a possibility to use namespace in the _functions.php (inside templates folder) and no namespace in the file outside the template folder (emailvalidation.php).

Something like "use \Processwire" at the beginning of emailvalidation.php?

[dragan]

1 hour ago, Juergen said:

To use variables from PW outside the templates folder I bootstrap the index file like this:

include("../../index.php"); //bootstraping index.php

It's a bit tricky, without knowing more. Since the error msg says "cannot redeclare", did you try to bootstrap with include_once instead of include?

[Juergen]

Using namespace Processwire in both files solves the problem. A writing mistake leads to that this approch did not work on the first attempt.