Fatal Error: Class 'ArticlesLatestHelper' not found in Joomla 4 module while trying to add new function

Question

I'm testing and playing with Joomla 4 alpha. What I tried to do is to quick-edit / modify the module Latest Article (mod_articles_latest), adding a new function.

In joomla 3.x I usually adding a new function to a module by adding it to helper.php file like this :

class ModNameHelper
{
    public static function myFunctionName($param1,$param2)
    { ...

Then I call it from the default.php like this:

ModNameHelper::myFunctionName($param1,$param2);

Now I tried to duplicate these steps with mod_articles_latest by adding myCustomFunction to ArticlesLatestHelper.php like this :

/**
 * @package     Joomla.Site
 * @subpackage  mod_articles_latest
 *
 * @copyright   Copyright (C) 2005 - 2019 Open Source Matters, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * @license     GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt
 */

namespace Joomla\Module\ArticlesLatest\Site\Helper;

defined('_JEXEC') or die;

use Joomla\CMS\Access\Access;
use Joomla\CMS\Component\ComponentHelper;
use Joomla\CMS\Factory;
use Joomla\CMS\Router\Route;
use Joomla\Component\Content\Site\Model\ArticlesModel;
use Joomla\Registry\Registry;
use Joomla\Utilities\ArrayHelper;

\JLoader::register('ContentHelperRoute', JPATH_SITE . '/components/com_content/helpers/route.php');

/**
 * Helper for mod_articles_latest
 *
 * @since  1.6
 */
abstract class ArticlesLatestHelper
{
    /**
     * Retrieve a list of article
     *
     * @param   Registry       $params  The module parameters.
     * @param   ArticlesModel  $model   The model.
     *
     * @return  mixed
     *
     * @since   1.6
     */
    public static function getList(Registry $params, ArticlesModel $model)
    { // this is the built-in function ... }


    public static function myCustomFunction($myparam) {
}

and then called the function in the default.php like this

ArticlesLatestHelper::myCustomFunction($myparam);

But it returned fatal error :

Error: Class 'ArticlesLatestHelper' not found: Class 'ArticlesLatestHelper' not found

Can anybody tell me, what am I doing wrong in here? Thanks!

Answer 1

Either, include that helper class on the top of your default.php like:

defined('_JEXEC') or die;

use Joomla\Module\ArticlesLatest\Site\Helper\ArticlesLatestHelper;

Then you can use that class within your default.php file

Or standardly define your own variable in mod_articles_latest.php like:

$myStuffHere = ArticlesLatestHelper::myCustomFunction($myparam);

And then you can use the returned values of $myStuffHere with that variable name in default.php

I think this is what you are looking for.