I faced this problem while trying to extend an existing class from GitHub. I'm gonna try to explain myself, first writing the class as I though it should be, and then the class as it is now.
What I though
namespace mycompany\CutreApi;
use mycompany\CutreApi\ClassOfVendor;
class CutreApi extends \vendor\AwesomeApi\AwesomeApi
{
public function whatever(): ClassOfVendor
{
return new ClassOfVendor();
}
}
What I've finally done
namespace mycompany\CutreApi;
use \vendor\AwesomeApi\ClassOfVendor;
class CutreApi extends \vendor\AwesomeApi\AwesomeApi
{
public function whatever(): ClassOfVendor
{
return new \mycompany\CutreApi\ClassOfVendor();
}
}
So seems that this errror raises also when you're using a method that return a namespaced class, and you try to return the same class but with other namespace. Fortunately I have found this solution, but I do not fully understand the benefit of this feature in php 7.2, for me it is normal to rewrite existing class methods as you need them, including the redefinition of input parameters and / or even behavior of the method.
One downside of the previous aproach, is that IDE's could not recognise the new methods implemented in \mycompany\CutreApi\ClassOfVendor(). So, for now, I will go with this implementation.
Currently done
namespace mycompany\CutreApi;
use mycompany\CutreApi\ClassOfVendor;
class CutreApi extends \vendor\AwesomeApi\AwesomeApi
{
public function getWhatever(): ClassOfVendor
{
return new ClassOfVendor();
}
}
So, instead of trying to use "whatever" method, I wrote a new one called "getWhatever". In fact both of them are doing the same, just returning a class, but with diferents namespaces as I've described before.
Hope this can help someone.