Problem with namespaces

Hi, I want to use the package DamerauLevenshtein, installed it through composer but its not working... need some help (i'm and old programmer not good with namespaces) 

In the same codeigniter project I have installed through composer phpoffice/phpexcel and its working ok

I have in the config 

PHP Code:

$config['composer_autoload'] = APPPATH.'vendor/autoload.php'; 


went to packagist, search for my package https://packagist.org/packages/oefenweb/...evenshtein

and then open command in application folder and install it 

composer require oefenweb/damerau-levenshtein

after install, checked all files in place, its installed in 

application\vendor\oefenweb\damerau-levenshtein\src\DamerauLevenshtein.php

its header is

PHP Code:

<?php
namespace Oefenweb\DamerauLevenshtein;

/**
 * Compute Damerau-Levenshtein distance of two strings.
 *
 * For more information about algorithm
 * @see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damerau%E2%80%93Levenshtein_distance
 */
class DamerauLevenshtein
{
(...) 


in my controller I have

PHP Code:

<?php
defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');

use Oefenweb\DamerauLevenshtein;

//these are for the phpexcel part, and their code works ok reading and writing excels
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;

class Test extends CI_Controller {

  public function test1()
  {
      $string1 = 'SMITH JONES, JACK';//these are random ^_^
      $string2 = 'JACK SMITH JONES';
      $dl = new DamerauLevenshtein($string1,$string2, 1,1,1,1);
      $sim = $dl->getSimilarity();
      //for test
      var_dump($sim);
  }
  (...)
} 


and i have when called an error exception

PHP Code:

Type: Error
Message: Class 'Oefenweb\DamerauLevenshtein\DamerauLevenshtein' not found
Filename: C:\wamp\www\testproject\application\controllers\Soundex.php 


on the line: "$dl = new DamerauLevenshtein(..."

I have tried with all posible combinations on top of the class , with and without the require of the autoload, change namespace... its all the same...

require_once APPPATH."vendor/autoload.php';
use Oefenweb\DamerauLevenshtein;
or
require_once APPPATH."vendor/autoload.php';
use Oefenweb\DamerauLevenshtein\DamerauLevenshtein;

so i'm stuck... always the same error.

What am I doing wrong?



PS: I really need this, the PHP levenstein function does not work for me because of the type of strings i will be testing.