Implement a custom PHP library into a custom block module?

Question

I have a PHP class and it's files in the folder:

/var/www/include_php/**the_folder**

How should I include this into Drupal?

ln -sf /var/www/include_php/the_folder /var/www/drupalSite/sites/all/libraries/the_folder

and then do drupal_add_library('the_folder') or something else in my block module?

Answer 1

If your PHP Library is a class or set of classes, you can add them to the registry. This is what I am doing in the Mobile Detect module. I got the idea from another module, but I don't recall which one:

/**
 * Implements hook_registry_files_alter().
 * 
 * Adds the Mobile_Detect() class to the registry so that autoloading works.
 * See http://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/42266 for a discussion.
 */
function mobile_detect_registry_files_alter(&$files, $modules) {
  $library_path = _mobile_detect_get_library_path();

  $files[$library_path . '/Mobile_Detect.php'] = array(
    'module' => 'mobile_detect',
    'weight' => 0,
  );
}

This adds the class to registry so it will be autoloaded if instantiated as $detect = new Mobile_Detect();. You can edit the $library_path = ... line to suit your situation.

Answer 2

drupal_add_library() is for Javascript/CSS libraries; Drupal doesn't have a similar registry for PHP libraries/classes.

To include a file inside a module in your installation, use module_load_include() e.g.

module_load_include('inc', 'mymodule', 'mymodule.pages');

For all others just defer to the standard PHP functions (include/require, etc.)

Answer 3

In your module symlink library's folder

ln -sf /var/www/include_php/the_folder /var/www/drupalSite/sites/all/mymodule/the_folder

Then in you mymodule.info add series of lines:

files[] = the_folder/first.inc
files[] = the_folder/second.inc

and so on. That way your module will know about them and Drupal will be able to autoload them.