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

Here is 3 work around: (These are just work around. classes must not be designed and implemented to sue the behavior of an IDE)

Option 1: make the method someOtherMethod abstract or empty method in foo class

class foo implements ifoo {
    protected $_value = null;

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

    // abstract method or create empty method if you want the method to be
    // to be optional 
    abstract function someOtherMethod();
}

Option 2:

Override the method setSomething in bar class

class bar extends foo {
    /**
     *
     * @param  $value
     * @return bar
     */
    public function setSomething($value) {
        return parent::setSomething($value); 
    }

    public function someOtherMethod(){}
}

Option 3: Use interface

interface ifoo {
    public function someOtherMethod(){}
}

class foo {
    protected $_value = null;

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

class bar extends foo implements ifoo {

    public function someOtherMethod(){}
}