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source/_posts/simplifying-drupal-migrations-xautoload.md

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+---
+title: Simplifying Drupal Migrations with xautoload
+date: 2016-05-03
+excerpt: How to use the xautoload module to autoload migration classes within your Drupal 7 migration modules.
+tags:
+    - autoloading
+    - drupal
+    - drupal-7
+    - drupal-planet
+    - php
+---
+
+How to use the [xautoload][1] module to autoload migration classes within your
+Drupal 7 migration modules.
+
+## What is xautoload?
+
+[xautoload][1] is a Drupal module that enables the autoloading of PHP classes,
+in the same way that you would do so in a [Composer][2] based project such as
+Drupal 8 or Symfony.
+
+It supports both the [PSR-0][3] and [PSR-4][4] standards, as well as providing a
+wildcard syntax for Drupal’s `file[]` syntax in .info files.
+
+To use it, download and enable it from Drupal.org as you would for any other
+module, and then add it as a dependency within your module. The xautoload
+project page suggests including a minimum version in this format:
+
+```ini
+dependencies[] = xautoload (>= 7.x-5.0)
+```
+
+This will ensure that the version of xautoload is 7.x-5.0 or newer.
+
+## How to use it
+
+### Wildcard syntax for .info files
+
+Here is an example .info file for a migrate module.
+
+```ini
+; foo_migrate.info
+
+name = Foo Migration
+core = 7.x
+package = Foo
+
+files[] = includes/user.inc
+files[] = includes/nodes/article.inc
+files[] = includes/nodes/page.inc
+```
+
+In this example, each custom migration class is stored in it’s own file within
+the `includes` directory, and each class needs to be loaded separately using the
+`files[] = filename` syntax.
+
+One thing that the xautoload module does to enable for the use of wildcards
+within this syntax. By using wildcards, the module file can be simplified as
+follows:
+
+```ini
+files[] = includes/**/*.inc
+```
+
+This will load any .inc files within the `includes` directory as well as any
+sub-directories, like 'node' in the original example.
+
+This means that any new migration classes that are added will be automatically
+loaded, so you don’t need to declare each include separately within
+foo_migrate.info again. The great thing about this approach is that it works
+with the existing directory and file structure.
+
+### Use the PSR-4 structure
+
+If you want to use the [PSR-4][4] approach, you can do that too.
+
+In order to do so, you’ll need to complete the following steps:
+
+1. Rename the `includes` directory to `src`.
+2. Ensure that there is one PHP class per file, and that the file extension is
+   `.php` rather than `.inc`.
+3. Ensure that the name of the file matches the name of the class -
+   `FooArticleNodeMigration` would be in a file called
+   `FooArticleNodeMigration.php`.
+4. Add a namespace to each PHP file. This uses the same format as Drupal 8,
+   including the machine name of the module. For example, `Drupal\foo_migrate`.
+   - If the class is within a sub-directory, then this will also need to be
+     included within the namespace - e.g. `Drupal\foo_migrate\Node`.
+   - You’ll also need to import any class names that you are referencing,
+     including class names that are you extending, by adding `use` statements at
+     the top of the file. You may be able to prefix it with `\` instead (e.g.
+     `\DrupalNode6Migration`), but I prefer to use imports.
+
+Now your class may look something like this:
+
+```php
+<?php
+
+namespace Drupal\foo_migrate\Node;
+
+use DrupalNode6Migration;
+
+class FooArticleNodeMigration extends DrupalNode6Migration {
+  ...
+}
+```
+
+With these steps completed, any imports within your .info file can be removed as
+they are no longer needed and any classes will be loaded automatically.
+
+Within `foo_migrate.migrate.inc`, I can now reference any class names using
+their full namespace:
+
+```php
+$node_arguments['ArticleNode'] = array(
+  'class_name' => 'Drupal\foo_migrate\Node\FooArticleNodeMigration',
+  'source_type' => 'story',
+  'destination_type' => 'article',
+);
+```
+
+## Resources
+
+- [xautoload module][1]
+- [migrate module][5]
+- [migrate_d2d module][6]
+- [PSR-0][3]
+- [PSR-4][4]
+
+[1]: https://www.drupal.org/project/xautoload
+[2]: http://getcomposer.org
+[3]: http://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-0/
+[4]: http://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-4/
+[5]: https://www.drupal.org/project/migrate
+[6]: https://www.drupal.org/project/migrate_d2d