How to manage includes, require and use in this project - php

Question

In this PHP project without framework, I have this folder structure: Adapter, Class and Models
A php file "index.php" is executed from the root and I have problems handling the model and adapter classes
Index file
<?php
include('Class/Load.php');
$connection = MysqlClass::getConnectionMysql();
Class Load
<?php
include(__DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'MysqlClass.php');
include(__DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'UtilsClass.php');
include(__DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'EmailClass.php');
MysqlClass File
<?php
include ('UtilsClass.php');
class MysqlClass
{
/**
* #return PDO
*/
public static function getConnectionMysql(): PDO
{
$dbhost = ReadEnvFileClass::getConfig('MYSQL_LOCAL_HOST');
$dbuser = ReadEnvFileClass::getConfig('MYSQL_LOCAL_USER');
$dbpass = ReadEnvFileClass::getConfig('MYSQL_LOCAL_PWD');
$dbname = ReadEnvFileClass::getConfig('MYSQL_LOCAL_DBNAME');
try {
$dsn = "mysql:host=$dbhost;dbname=$dbname";
$dbh = new PDO($dsn, $dbuser, $dbpass);
} catch (PDOException $e){
var_dump($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpass);
echo $e->getMessage();
}
return $dbh;
}
}
The question is in this second MysqlClass file if I should include here the files to the different classes that I need, or should I do it in the index.php file from a load.php file and from there load all the classes that I need in the rest of the project .

Answer 1

It is always a good idea to use an autoloader, like the one provided by Composer.
First, move Adapter, Class and Models subdirectories under a directory src. Remove Load.php completely.
The structure will be:
index.php
composer.json
src/Class/MysqlClass.php
src/Class/UtilsClass.php
src/Class/EmailClass.php
src/Adapter/...
src/Models/...
Then create the composer.json file in the main directory:
{
"autoload": {
"psr-4": {"Acme\\": "src/"}
}
}
In all class files, put the proper namespace and remove all include and require calls:
<?php
namespace Acme/Class
class MysqlClass {
// ...
Run composer install or just composer dump-autoload in the main directory, and include the autoload.php file in your index.php (remove all other includes and requires).
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
Now you can call this code from any place, the class will be loaded if needed:
use Acme/Class/MysqlClass
// ...
$connection = MysqlClass::getConnectionMysql();