PhpStorm type-hinting for factories? - factory

Question

I have code more or less like this:
class Foo {
public static function factory($str) {
$class = "Foo_" . $str;
return new $class;
}
}
class Foo_Bar {
public function razzle() {
print "Foo_Bar->baz() was called";
}
}
$Obj = Foo::factory('Bar');
and I would like PhpStorm to understand that $Obj is a Foo_Bar object, so that for example if I type $Obj->raz, razzle() will show up for autocompletion.
Is there any way to get this? To tell PhpStorm that the function Foo::factory($str) returns an object of type Foo_$str? My guess is that the answer is no.

Answer 1

As far as I know you can't make PHPStorm understand what Foo is giving out, because it is dynamic. However you can surely tell PHPStorm what your $Obj variable is, by putting a doc comment above it, like so:
/** #var Foo_Bar $Obj */
$Obj = Foo::factory('Bar');

Answer 2

Yes, you can do this if your factory is a static method. It should work fine for the examples you have provided.
More details and some basic example can be found here: http://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/PhpStorm/PhpStorm+Advanced+Metadata

Answer 3

You should use phpstorm metadata, that works for both dynamic and static calls.
class Foo {
public function factory($str) {
$class = "Foo_" . $str;
return new $class();
}
}
class Foo_Bar {
public function baz() {
print "Foo_Bar->baz() was called";
}
}
$Obj = Foo->factory('Bar');
$Obj->baz();
create a file in your project root directory and name it .phpstorm.meta.php:
<?php
namespace PHPSTORM_META {
$STATIC_METHOD_TYPES = [
\Foo::factory('') => [
"Bar" instanceof \Foo_Bar,
],
];
}
thanks #LazyOne for link.

Answer 4

One way which worked for me is to explicitly list in an "or" list all of the possible classes the factory might spit out.
/**
* #param $str
* #return Foo_Bar | Foo_Cad | Foo_Dad
*/
class Foo {
public static function factory($str) {
$class = "Foo_" . $str;
return new $class;
}
}
But this does mean all the method type hinting on the instance/object will have the union of all of the listed classes.
Not perfect, but still better than nothing, and still better than having to write /* #var ClassA */ multiple times on every instance it occurs.

Answer 5

One way is to explicitly list in an "or" list all of the possible classes the factory might spit out.
<!-- language: lang-php -->
/**
* #param $str
* #return Foo_Bar | Foo_Baz | Foo_Cad
*/
class Foo {
public static function factory($str) {
$class = "Foo_" . $str;
return new $class;
}
}