PHPDoc type hinting for array of objects?

user_47680 0
Viewed 233955

So, in PHPDoc one can specify @var above the member variable declaration to hint at its type. Then an IDE, for ex. PHPEd, will know what type of object it's working with and will be able to provide a code insight for that variable.

<?php
  class Test
  {
    /** @var SomeObj */
    private $someObjInstance;
  }
?>

This works great until I need to do the same to an array of objects to be able to get a proper hint when I iterate through those objects later on.

So, is there a way to declare a PHPDoc tag to specify that the member variable is an array of SomeObjs? @var array is not enough, and @var array(SomeObj) doesn't seem to be valid, for example.

hint var phpdoc ide php
14 Answers

Use:

/* @var $objs Test[] */
foreach ($objs as $obj) {
    // Typehinting will occur after typing $obj->
}

when typehinting inline variables, and

class A {
    /** @var Test[] */
    private $items;
}

for class properties.

Previous answer from '09 when PHPDoc (and IDEs like Zend Studio and Netbeans) didn't have that option:

The best you can do is say,

foreach ($Objs as $Obj)
{
    /* @var $Obj Test */
    // You should be able to get hinting after the preceding line if you type $Obj->
}

I do that a lot in Zend Studio. Don't know about other editors, but it ought to work.

Zahymaka_666880

if you use PHPStorm 2021.2+ you also can use this syntax (Array shapes):

@property array{name: string, content: string}[] $files

or

@var array{name: string, content: string}[] $files
user_65046840

The problem is that @var can just denote a single type - Not contain a complex formula. If you had a syntax for "array of Foo", why stop there and not add a syntax for "array of array, that contains 2 Foo's and three Bar's"? I understand that a list of elements is perhaps more generic than that, but it's a slippery slope.

Personally, I have some times used @var Foo[] to signify "an array of Foo's", but it's not supported by IDE's.

user_181800

I've found something which is working, it can save lives !

private $userList = array();
$userList = User::fetchAll(); // now $userList is an array of User objects
foreach ($userList as $user) {
   $user instanceof User;
   echo $user->getName();
}
user_2497190
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