84
votes

Is there a way to hint WebIDE that a variable has some type? I have to iterate an array of objects, and there's no auto-completion available. This helps in ZendStudio:

/* @var ClassName $object */

I know there's a feature in JetBrains to declare an array of objects:

/**
 * @return ClassName[]
 */

But this works only with function's return type.

2
It works with arrays. Does it work with ArrayIterators which iterate over a specific type?redestructa

2 Answers

152
votes

/* @var ClassName $object */ is a non-valid PHPDOC comment and is not parsed in the current version of Web IDE. Use double asterisks to make it work:

/** @var ClassName $object */

Also, you can annotate $array in foreach($array as $var) with /** @var ClassName[] $array */ and $var type will be deduced automatically.

30
votes

As already pointed out, PhpStorm will use regular phpdoc blocks:

/** @var ClassName $object */

However, since 2.1 it also supports Netbeans/Eclipse/Zend @var annotations:

/* @var $object ClassName */

Please note the comment starts with /* rather than /** (thus it won't show up if you generate actual documentation with phpdoc). Also, the arguments are swapped, though PhpStorm accepts any order:

/* @var ClassName $object */

Last but not least, they can precede almost any arbitrary line of code (technically, phpdoc blocks are restricted to certain items).


Edit: as of 2019, Netbeans/Eclipse/Zend @var annotations seem to be mostly abandoned. NetBeans 11 no longer supports them and in general they aren't supported by other IDEs. I suggest to use the other syntax.