How do I call an external php non WordPress class into functions.php?

Question

All my WordPress files are in:

/httpdocs/news/

and the classes I want to call are in:

/private/classes/

Would I use the include_once() function or is there a WordPress function? And how would I do it?

Cheers

Answer 1

Include this in your theme functions,

 <?php
    $includes_path = 'the root folder you want to call';
    require_once $includes_path . 'the_class_you_are_calling.php';
  ?>

Also make sure you have the privileges access... I know it's dummy but I've been there done that...