The fact that after moving the Movie.php file to the controllers directory it starts working normally means that the class namespace is incorrectly defined.
Let's start with the theoretical part.
A namespace always has its own root directory. For example, in CI4, the App namespace has the root directory app/.
All namespace segments must correspond to directories within the root directory of the namespace.
For example
namespace App -> app/ (root)
namespace App\Controllers = app/Controllers
or
namespace Acme -> modules/acme/ (root)
namespace Acme\Controllers = modules/acme/Controllers
That is, the namespace defines the directory in which the class is located.
Let's get back to your problem.
1. For a Movie class located in the app/Controllers/dashboard directory, the namespace should be App\Controllers\dashboard (note the namespace is case sensitive).
2. By default, the namespace is defined as App\Controllers. This helps shorten the handler name.
PHP Code:
$routes->get('/', 'Home::index');
// instead of
$routes->get('/', '\App\Controllers\Home::index');
Since you don't have a namespace defined in your routes, the default namespace is used, which is App\Controllers. Accordingly, the error indicates that the router is trying to find the Movie class in the app/Controllers directory.
That is, you only need to define the namespace. There are two ways.
1. Define the namespace for the group.
PHP Code:
$routes->group('dashboard', ['namespace' => '\App\Controllers\dashboard'], static function ($routes) {
$routes->presenter('movie');
$routes->presenter('category',['except'=>['show']]);
});
// \App\Controllers\dashboard + Movie
2. Define controller
PHP Code:
$routes->group('dashboard', static function ($routes) {
$routes->presenter('movie', ['controller' => 'dashboard\Movie']);
$routes->presenter('category',['controller' => 'dashboard\Category', 'except'=>['show']]);
});
// \App\Controllers + dashboard\Movie
Use of subfolder for controllers when using presenter or resources routes
