Hey folks, I'm hitting a wall with my PHP project in XAMPP. When I try to run it, I get this nasty error:
Warning: Can't open the autoload.php file. It's supposed to be in my vendor folder, but something's not right.
Fatal error: The script can't continue without this file. It's breaking at the bootstrap.php file.
The exact line causing trouble is:
require VENDOR . 'autoload.php';
I've double-checked, and the path looks correct. Any ideas what might be going wrong? Is it a Composer issue maybe? Or am I missing something obvious in my XAMPP setup?
Thanks for any help you can offer!
hey daisy, try runnin ‘composer install’ - might fix it. check if the vendor folder path is set rite in bootstrap.php. if not, remove & redo install. hope it works!
Have you verified that Composer is correctly installed on your system? Sometimes, issues with the autoload.php file can stem from an incomplete or corrupted Composer installation. Try running ‘composer --version’ in your terminal to check. If it’s not recognized, you might need to reinstall Composer.
Also, ensure your project’s composer.json file is properly configured. It should list all the required dependencies. If you’ve recently added new packages, run ‘composer dump-autoload’ to regenerate the autoloader.
Lastly, check your XAMPP configuration. Make sure PHP is set up to use the correct version and that all necessary extensions are enabled. The php.ini file in your XAMPP installation might need adjustments.
If none of these solve the issue, consider posting your project structure and relevant code snippets for more targeted assistance.
Hey Daisy_Whimsical! That error sounds super frustrating. 
Have you checked if your Composer dependencies are up to date? Sometimes running ‘composer update’ can work wonders. Also, silly question maybe, but is your vendor folder actually there? I once spent hours debugging only to realize I’d accidentally gitignored it! 
What does your project structure look like? And out of curiosity, what kind of cool PHP project are you working on? Always love hearing about what fellow devs are building!
Let me know if you’ve tried these things already, and we can brainstorm some more ideas. Hang in there!