php / phpDoc - @return instance of $this class?

Question

How do I mark a method as \"returns an instance of the current class\" in my phpDoc?

In the following example my IDE (Netbeans) will see that setSomething always returns

Answer 1

Update:

As of Netbeans 7.4, the IDE supports @return self, static, and this (http://wiki.netbeans.org/NewAndNoteworthyNB74#Editor_2).

class foo {
    protected $_value = null;

    /**
     * Set something
     *
     * @param string $value the value
     * @return this
     */
    public function setSomething($value) {
        $this->_value = $value;
        return $this;
    }
}

class bar extends foo {
    public function someOtherMethod(){}
}

---

Previous Answer:

We have a similar issue with a record iterator's current() method. Since the iterator is extended for many different classes, it doesn't make sense to have a @return $class associated with it. We've used @satrun77's Option 2 before, but I've used @method with some success in Netbeans.

class foo {
    protected $_value = null;

    /**
     * Set something
     *
     * @param string $value the value
     * @return foo
     */
    public function setSomething($value) {
        $this->_value = $value;
        return $this;
    }
}

/**
 * @method bar setSomething($value)
 */
class bar extends foo {
    public function someOtherMethod(){}
}