Composer Override a package file - php

Question

I am trying to override a package file, as it doesn't work without modification and it hasn't been updated to fix this.
Package is webklex\laravel-pdfmerger and the file is PDFMerger.php
In it has:
use fpdi\FPDI;
for it to work correctly it needs to be:
use FPDI;
Obviously whenever I update using composer, this file is of course then incorrect, and at this stage I have to manually go in and change the file to get it working.
There must be a better way?
I've attempted making a copy of the git package, and then using composer to import it and attempt to override, composer snippet is below, but it doesn't do what I want it to do.
{
"name": "laravel/laravel",
"description": "The Laravel Framework.",
"keywords": ["framework", "laravel"],
"license": "MIT",
"type": "project",
"repositories": {
"laravel-pdfmerger": {
"type": "package",
"package": {
"name": "****/laravel-pdfmerger-mirror",
"version": "1.1.1",
"source": {
"url": "https://bitbucket.org/****/laravel-pdfmerger-mirror.git",
"type": "git",
"reference": "origin/master"
}
}
}
},
"require": {
...
"****/laravel-pdfmerger-mirror": "1.1.1",
"webklex/laravel-pdfmerger": "1.1"
},
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"database"
],
"psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/",
"VendorExtensions\\xerolaravel\\": "packages/vendorExtensions/xerolaravel",
"Webklex\\PDFMerger\\PDFMerger\\": "vendor/****/laravel-pdfmerger-mirror/src/PDFMerger"
}
},
Any help here would be great.
--- EDIT ---
updated my composer.json file to remove the repository and change the psr-4 autoload to the following:
psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/",
"VendorExtensions\\xerolaravel\\": "packages/vendorExtensions/xerolaravel",
"Webklex\\laravel-pdfmerger\\PDFMerger\\": "vendor/webklex/laravel-pdfmerger/src/PDFMerger"
}
But it is still not overriding the original file whenever I do use PDFMerger. Is it because I'm using a Facade?

Answer 1

Figured this one out at last...
1) Import Forked respository in your composer.json file, but ensure the name matches the name of the package you are replacing; in my case webklex/laravel-pdfmerger, like so:
"repositories": {
"webklex/laravel-pdfmerger": {
"type": "package",
"package": {
"name": "webklex/laravel-pdfmerger",
"version": "1.1.1",
"source": {
"url": "url to git",
"type": "git",
"reference": "origin/master"
}
}
}
},
Note: Ensure you set a version higher than what is currently available on the original package, so here I added .1 to differentiate the change and tag the commit as this so I can select it.
2) require the package, but ensure you request the version you tagged in your commit:
"require": {
"php": ">=5.6.4",
"webklex/laravel-pdfmerger": "1.1.1"
},
3) Update the autoload to point to where the package has been imported:
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"database"
],
"psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/",
"Webklex\\PDFMerger\\": "vendor/webklex/laravel-pdfmerger/src"
}
},
Run composer update and then dump the autoload.
You should then be able to reference the package in your application as per the instructions in the original package.

Answer 2

You can do this by putting your edited package in a vendor-custom directory and adding it to the autoload section of your composer.json.
"autoload": {
"psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/",
"Vendor\\Package": "vendor-custom/vendor/package"
}
},
Gregwar psr-0 example:
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"database"
],
"psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/"
},
"psr-0": {
"Gregwar\\Cache": "vendor-custom/gregwar/cache",
"Gregwar\\Image": "vendor-custom/gregwar/image",
"Gregwar\\ImageBundle": "vendor-custom/gregwar/image-bundle"
}
},

Answer 3

In PHP, you can actually alias a class to another, and that behaviour include namespaces.
This is extremely useful in legacy projects where you want to start using namespaces but don't want to refactor all usage of the said class.
You have the opposite here, the class is defined in a namespace but the class you are using is not in a namespace, still, aliasing the class would do.
So the function you might be looking for is class_alias.
Here is an example
<?php
class FPDI {
public function __construct() {
var_dump('I am FPDI');
}
}
class_alias('FPDI', 'fpdi\FPDI');
$noNamespace = new FPDI; // would, off course work
$namespace = new fpdi\FPDI(); // would work too, thanks to the class alias
So if you are using Laravel, your job should be as simple as aliasing the class correctly.
This can actually be done where you define your providers and aliases.
So at the beginning of config/app.php
<?php
class_alias('FPDI', 'fpdi\FPDI');
return [
// all of the below array stays as you have it, it was just snipped for concision purpose
];