PHPExcel class not found in Zend Autoloader

Create an autoloader for PHPExcel and add it to the Zend autoloader stack.

In library/My/Loader/Autoloader/PHPExcel.php:

class My_Loader_Autoloader_PHPExcel implements Zend_Loader_Autoloader_Interface
{
    public function autoload($class)
    {
        if ('PHPExcel' != $class){
            return false;
        }
        require_once 'PHPExcel.php';
        return $class;
    }
}

And in application/configs/application.ini:

autoloadernamespaces[] = "My_"

Then, in application/Bootstrap.php:

protected function _initAutoloading()
{
    $autoloader = Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance();
    $autoloader->pushAutoloader(new My_Loader_Autoloader_PHPExcel());
}

Then you should be able to instantiate PHPExcel – say, in a controller – with a simple:

$excel = new PHPExcel();

The only sticky part is all of this is how PHPExcel handles loading all its dependencies within its own folder. If that is done intelligently – either with calls like require_once basename(__FILE__) . '/someFile.php' or with its own autoloader that somehow doesn’t get in the way of the Zend autoloader – then all should be cool. #famouslastwords