Variable type hinting in Netbeans (PHP)

A single line is all you need:

/* @var $varName Type_Name */

See this article in the NetBeans PHP Blog: https://blogs.oracle.com/netbeansphp/entry/defining_a_variable_type_in

Note: At least, in version 8.2; The key seems to be:

• The single asterisk (/* instead of /**).
• Placing the type after the variable name.
• Having nothing before and after the type-hinting (except white-space, but even that is not allowed when the comment is not in a single line).

According to this bug report, the syntax will change in NetBeans 9:

/* @var $variable VarType */    // vdoc1 (legacy syntax)
/** @var VarType $variable */   // vdoc (new syntax)

Also, it's worth mentioning that you can append [] to a class name to indicate an array of objects:

/* @var $foos Foo[] */
$foos = // ...

foreach ($foos as $foo) {
    // $foo will be hinted as Foo here
}

And don't forget your use statement, e.g. use Foo;

I know this is an older question, but I was looking for a similar answer for Eclipse/Zend Studio and this solved it as well.

**Note though that it must be on a single line with the opening and closing explicitly in this style...

/* @var $varName Type_Name */

No other formats whether...

/**
 * @var $varName Type_Name
 */ 

or...

// @var $varName Type_Name

seemed to work at all. Hope that helps someone.

Are you looking to document those pesky magic variables? (I did; This question currently ranks top result for that in Google. I hope this helps someone!)

The @property tag allows you to document magic php variables - those implemented using __get() and __set(). The tag should be used in the documentation immediately preceding the class definition:

/**
 * Class Contact
 * @property string $firstName
 * @property string $lastName
 */
class Contact extends Model {
   ...

This notation triggers autocomplete, tested in Netbeans 8.1 and PhpStorm 2016.1.