Annotate list of variables in PHP

Question

I have a list of objects which I retrieve in the following way:

list($var1, $var2, $var3) = $helper->getStuff();

except longer.

Now, all of these variables are of the same class, Foo, and I want to annotate them so that the IDE (PHPStorm) realizes what I'm doing.

Normally, getting one variable at a time, I would go

/**@var Foo $var1 */
$var1 = ...;

/**@var Foo $var2 */
$var2 = ...;

etc. But how can I accomplish this, with the list($var1, $var2, $var3) = ...; way of getting them?

Ideally, it would be something like

/**@var Foo $var1, $var2, $var3 */

so that I could consolidate them into one line. And yes, I've tried that, both comma-separated and space-separated.

Just curious if you have tried 2016.2.1 (EAP build at the moment)? There is a chance that it is better there (as long as $helper->getStuff() has proper @return tag annotation). If not -- then it might get improved in 2016.3 version — LazyOne
– LazyOne, Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 14:03
@LazyOne - Yeah, one can usually do that with a return tag. However, the getStuff() function is annotated with @return Foo[] but it doesn't carry over. — Alec
– Alec, Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 15:42
@Alec Accordingly to youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/WI-20192 ticket it will be supported/working better in 2016.3 for cases where original variable/function return is an array of objects of specific type (e.g. Foo[]) — LazyOne
– LazyOne, Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 16:23

user3942918 · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-23 16:03:29Z

4

You can place them all in a single block above it. For example:

/**
 * @var Foo $var1
 * @var Foo $var2
 * @var Foo $var3
 */
list($var1, $var2, $var3) = $helper->getStuff();

You can wedge them all into one line if you use separate blocks, like:

/**@var Foo $var1*/ /**@var Foo $var2*/ /**@var Foo $var3*/
list($var1, $var2, $var3) = $helper->getStuff();

but I suspect that's not the concise readability you're after.

answered Aug 23, 2016 at 12:57

user3942918

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2 Comments

That looks more tidy, but is there no way to annotate them all on one line?

Haha, A for effort though! I'll be using the first variant you proposed. :)