PHP IDE :: NuSphere Forums :: View topic - [resolved] Code completion when object name is a variable

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:26 pm

I'll let the attached image do most of the talking. I receive the error box after typing

Code:

$thetest->

and then pressing CTRL-Space to force code completion.

Here's the code in case you want to copy-paste to duplicate the error:

Code:

<?php
class main
{
var $mainVar;

function mainFunc()
{
}
}

class theExtender extends main
{
}

function getObject($objName)
{
$objToReturn = new $objName();
return $objToReturn;
}

$thetest = getObject('theExtender');
$thetest->

?>

[edited for spelling]

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:29 pm

Here's an even simpler example:

Code:

<?php
class main
{
var $mainVar;

function mainFunc()
{
}
}

$objName = 'main';

$test = new $objName;
$test->

?>

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:33 pm

Can anyone at Nusphere confirm that this is a PhpED bug, or if I'm just doing something wrong? If it's a bug, will there be a fix?

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 4:18 pm

Hi there- looked at it, sorry it took a bit. We can not always determine what would be assigned to the variable wheny you create it - this dynamic typing nature of PHP for you. But We di have FAQ on this subject, explaining how to deal with that:
http://forum.nusphere.com/tip-type-hints-t1563.html
I hope it helps. BTW- thank you very much for answering other people's questions, it is always very much appreciated.

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:19 am

Thanks for the reply. No need to reply quickly with an answer. I just like to know that someone has seen it and will look into it at some point =)

Unfortunately it doesn't look like that link helps in my situation. I'm trying to use a string ("$objName") to define the name of the object that I was to use, but it looks like PhpED doesn't recognise that. I use this often in larger projects to define which object to load.

I am unaware of the challenges associated with developing a code completion system, but would it be an option to make my code above work, possibly by checking to see if "$aVariable" is a string, and if it is, using the string value to reference an object or possibly even a function, like PHP does when it parses the code? E.g.

Code:

class testValue
{
var $test1;

function function1() {}
}

function testValue($arg1,$arg2) {}

$aVariable = 'testValue';

$aVariable( // At this point it would pop up a code hint, highlighting $arg1

$obj = new $aVariable;
$obj-> // At this point, code completion would pop up

I realise that this could possibly be incredibly difficult to do, but it would be a major boon to code completion. Please feel free to give me technical details if you want to, as I would love to hear about the challenges involved with this.

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:44 am

Quote:

Unfortunately it doesn't look like that link helps in my situation

I think there is a kind of misunderstanding.
What YFaktor pointed out to works pretty well:

You may notice a phpdoc comment to tell the IDE what type will have the variable below.
Typehints are explained there: http://forum.nusphere.com/tip-type-hints-t1563.html

Quote:

if "$aVariable" is a string, and if it is, using the string value to reference an object or possibly even a function, like PHP does when it parses the code

no, php recognizes this during run-time, not while parsing.

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:22 pm

dmitri wrote:

Quote:

Unfortunately it doesn't look like that link helps in my situation

I think there is a kind of misunderstanding.
What YFaktor pointed out to works pretty well:

<snip>[img]<snip>

You may notice a phpdoc comment to tell the IDE what type will have the variable below.
Typehints are explained there: http://forum.nusphere.com/tip-type-hints-t1563.html

I tried the phpdoc @var, but I obviously didn't do it correctly. Thanks for the clarification. It's working perfectly! Very Happy

dmitri wrote:

Quote:

if "$aVariable" is a string, and if it is, using the string value to reference an object or possibly even a function, like PHP does when it parses the code

no, php recognizes this during run-time, not while parsing.

Thanks for the clarification.

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:46 pm

Oops. It appears that I spoke too soon. The point of using a string (in your example, $objName) to specify the class name is that we don't know what class name will be used. Consider the following:

Code:

if ($someCondition)
$objName = 'main';
elseif ($anotherCondition)
$objName = 'another_main';
else
$objName = 'something_else';

$test = new $objName;
/** @var */
$test->

I don't know what to put for the phpdoc @var because I don't know which $objName will be used. Let me know if I'm missing something.

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:32 am

If the classes have a common ancestor (or common interface), I'd recommend you to put it in the @var.
If the have no common ancestor, I'd say that code is not well designed and nobody would tell what methods are available, including phped's code insight Smile

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:54 pm

dmitri wrote:

If the classes have a common ancestor (or common interface), I'd recommend you to put it in the @var.
If the have no common ancestor, I'd say that code is not well designed and nobody would tell what methods are available, including phped's code insight Smile

Ah, I was focussing too much on this example and not enough on my real-world code. I just needed to wrap my head around the whole process, and put my base inheritance class in the @var.

Thanks for the help, dmitri. This is going to save me a ton of time =)