ReflectionDocBlock Documentation

ReflectionDocBlock is a PHP library designed to parse and interpret DocBlocks that are fully compatible with the PHPDoc standard. It is used for extracting metadata, type information, and annotations from PHP code.

Key capabilities include:

• Metadata Extraction: Gathering type information for static analysis or code introspection.
• DocBlock Reconstitution: Programmatically adding, removing, or modifying DocBlock tags.
• Serialization Support: Helping tools interpret type information in complex structures.
• Documentation Generation: Serving as a core component for generating API documentation.

To parse a DocBlock, instantiate a DocBlockFactory using the createInstance() method. You can then use the create() method to interpret a raw DocBlock string or an object that implements getDocComment() (such as a ReflectionClass). The create() method returns an instance of \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock.

$factory  = \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlockFactory::createInstance();

$docComment = <<<DOCCOMMENT
/**
 * This is an example of a summary.
 *
 * This is a Description. A Summary and Description are separated by either
 * two subsequent newlines (thus a whiteline in between as can be seen in this
 * example), or when the Summary ends with a dot (`.`) and some form of
 * whitespace.
 */
DOCCOMMENT;

$docblock = $factory->create($docComment);

In v6, the ::create static method has been removed from tag classes that represent type definitions (e.g., @param and @return tags).

If you were instantiating these tag objects directly, you must now use a tag factory or the recommended construction pattern.

// Before v6
$tag = Param::create($body);

// After v6
$factory = \phpDocumentor\Reflection\DocBlock\Tags\Factory\StandardTagFactory::createInstance();
$tag = $factory->create('@param int $foo');

Install the phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock component using Composer to add PHPDoc standard DocBlock parsing capabilities to your library.

composer require phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock

The following methods have been removed from the Method class in v6:

• Method::getArguments()
• Method::create()

You must refactor your code to use the new API for method arguments and creation.