Why declare PHP variable type in a comment?

Question

I\'m fairly new to PHP, and I just started using NetBeans to develop my PHP code.

Out of the blue, as I entered a variable in a query, a dialog popped up and asked me to

Answer 1

Despite netbeans use it for autocompletion it is often useful for documenting your code:

In this case you know what this method gets and what it returns but inside the code you have no idea what is happening

/**
 * Returns some stuff
 * @param string $someObj
 * @return array
 */
public function someMethod($someObj) {
    $factoredObj = getObject($someObj); //you are not sure what type it returns
    $resultArray = $factoredObj->toArray();
    return $resultArray;
}

You can comment it with /* @var $variable type */ inside the code

/**
 * Returns some stuff
 * @param string $someObj
 * @return array
 */
public function someMethod($someObj) {
    /* @var $factoredObj someType */
    $factoredObj = getObject($someObj);
    $resultArray = $factoredObj->toArray();
    return $resultArray;
}

or

$factoredObj = getObject($someObj); /* @var $factoredObj someType */