🌟 MetaStorm – Ultimate tool for PHPStorm! 🚀

Plugin on Jetbrains Marketplace: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/26121-meta-storm/

MetaStorm makes your IDE understand code even deeper.

A few lines of config files unlock both references and autocompletion at regular places such as method($object, <property of object>), render(<file name>), etc

Advantages

• No need dedicated IDE plugin to support your own framework
• Anyone can extend or override plugin functionality
• So if a feature is not ready by the dedicated IDE plugin, MetaStorm is ready to covers with its possibilities
• No need to support legacy codebase in the dedicated IDE plugin
• Written component config might be used with any other projects, like Symfony Console and almost the whole PHP world
• Life save for single developers, any library configuration might improve developer experience with less knowledge
• Totally free

Quick start

Short Youtube demo: https://youtu.be/fFGrRNFDZIg

Goal

When I use the static method ArrayHelper::getValue I want to make my IDE to be as helpful as possible.

I want to make the IDE understand that if I type the second argument it must be one of the properties of the first argument:

public static function getValue(object $object, string $property)

1. Create a file with the name .meta-storm.xml at any place in your project with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<meta-storm xmlns="meta-storm">
    <definitions>
        <classMethod class="\ArrayHelper" method="getValue" argument="1">
            <properties relatedTo="argument" relatedArgument="0"/>
        </classMethod>
    </definitions>
</meta-storm>

2. Create a PHP file with the following content:

<?php

class User { private $id; protected $name; public $age; }

$a = new User;

class ArrayHelper {
    public static function getValue(object $object, string $property) {} 
}

ArrayHelper::getValue($a, 'age');

3. Start doing

• Click with pressed CTRL / COMMAND on the 'age' and PhpStorm navigates you to the $age property declaration.
• Remove age and start typing, you can see properties completion for the existing properties.
• Click on the property $age in the class User and PhpStorm highlight you all the usages and add references to them

That was example how it works. Read the rest documentation to understand what you can do with the plugin.

Donation

Open-source tools can greatly improve workflows, helping developers and businesses save time and increase revenue. Many successful projects have been built on these tools, benefiting a wide community. However, maintaining and enhancing these resources requires continuous effort and investment.

Support from the community helps keep these projects alive and ensures they remain useful for everyone. Donations play a key role in sustaining and improving these open-source initiatives.

Chose the best option for you to say thank you:

Patreon | Buy me a coffee | Boosty

Configuration

Configuration files

Meta Storm searches for any files with the .meta-storm.xml at the end of file name so:

• A file can be placed at any place (except ignored directories)
• A file may have any name with the specific postfix, e.g.: arrays.meta-storm.xml, files.meta-storm.xml, .meta-storm.xml, etc
• Configuration files could exist more than one at the moment
• The whole config is combines with several config files

The best way to use the plugin is to add a specific configuration to a package and distribute the config file with the package.

Empty configuration file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<meta-storm xmlns="meta-storm">
    <definitions>

    </definitions>
    <collections>

    </collections>
</meta-storm>

Configuration Overview

• The configuration files are written in XML format.
• There can be any number of configuration files, as long as their names end with .meta-storm.xml.
• Configuration files can be distributed with libraries and may be located in the vendor/* directory.

Each configuration file follows this structure:

• Definitions
  • Mount Point (Where?)
    • Functionality to Add (What?)
      • Display Method (How?)
• Collections
  • Collection Assembly Instructions

Now that you understand how the configuration is structured, you can assemble it using existing components or submit an issue or pull request with your idea.

Targets

classMethod

Mounts into the class method call.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
class	yes	fully qualified class name	\App\Helper\Arrays
method	yes	method name	getValue
argument	yes	position of the argument you want to make interactive	0, 1, 2, ...
targetValue	no	should be used as direct value target (string)	true, false
targetInArray	no	position in array expression	key, value, none
children	no	features

Example

<classMethod
        class="\Framework\AttributeArgumentValueInterface"
        method="attributeArgumentValue" argument="0">
    <!-- features -->
</classMethod>

classConstructor

Mounts into the class constructor call or the attribute definition call.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
class	yes	fully qualified class name	\App\Helper\Arrays
argument	yes	position of the argument you want to make interactive	0, 1, 2, ...
targetValue	no	should be used as direct value target (string)	true, false
targetInArray	no	position in array expression	key, value, none
children	no	features

Example

<classConstructor class="\Framework\AttributeArgumentValueInterface" argument="0">
    <!-- features -->
</classConstructor>

classCallable

Mounts into the class object invocation.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
class	yes	fully qualified class name	\App\Helper\Arrays
argument	yes	position of the argument you want to make interactive	0, 1, 2, ...
targetValue	no	should be used as direct value target (string)	true, false
targetInArray	no	position in array expression	key, value, none
children	no	features

Example

<classCallable class="\Framework\EventHandler" argument="0">
    <!-- features -->
</classCallable>

classProperty

Mounts into the class property default value.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
class	yes	fully qualified class name	\App\Helper\Arrays
property	yes	name of the property	tableName, property, ...
targetValue	no	should be used as direct value target (string)	true, false
targetInArray	no	position in array expression	key, value, none
children	no	features

Example

<classProperty class="\Framework\Entity" property="table">
    <!-- features -->
</classProperty>

function

Mounts into the function call.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	function name	file_get_contents
argument	yes	position of the argument you want to make interactive	0, 1, 2, ...
targetValue	no	should be used as direct value target (string)	true, false
targetInArray	no	position in array expression	key, value, none
children	no	features

Example

<function name="view" argument="0">
    <!-- features -->
</function>

returnValue

Mounts into the returning value of the method.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
class	yes	fully qualified class name	\App\Helper\Arrays
method	yes	method name	getValue
children	no	features

Example

<returnValue class="\ActiveRecord" method="tableName">
  <!-- features -->
</returnValue>

files

Mounts into the files satisfied by xpath.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
xpath	yes	xpath string to walk through the entities	$project/resources/templates/
extension	no	method name	getValue
children	no	features

Note: files target xpath work properly only with $project start point

Example

All *.php files under $project/resources/templates directory

<files xpath="$project/resources/templates" extension=".php">
  <!-- features -->
</files>

Any files under $project/resources/templates directory

<files xpath="$project/resources/templates">
  <!-- features -->
</files>

Features Overview

Once you configured target it's possible to inject one or many features into the mounting point.

Many of the following features automatically enable the following IDE abilities:

• Autocompletion
  • When you start typing inside the string literal IDE suggest you necessary endings
• Referencing string literals as program language entities that automatically enables:
  • Navigating from the usage to the definition
    • From method('prop') to class { public $prop }
    • From render('index') to templates/site/index.php
  • Navigating from the definition to the usages
    • Vise-serve of the navigating from the usage to the definition
  • Renaming
  • Refactoring
  • Finding usages

properties

Provide properties of the related class.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
relatedTo	no (if xpath set)	relative point to lookup for entries	See Related type
xpath	no (if relatedTo set)	xpath string to walk through the entities	See Related type
relatedArgument	no	related argument index, useful for many relatedTo values	0, 1, 2, ...
public	no	show or hide such properties	true, false
protected	no	show or hide such properties	true, false
private	no	show or hide such properties	true, false
static	no	show or hide such properties	true, false
dynamic	no	show or hide such properties	true, false
children	no	feature processors

Example

<properties relatedTo="argument" relatedArgument="0"/>

methods

Provide properties of the related class.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
relatedTo	no (if xpath set)	relative point to lookup for entries	See Related type
xpath	no (if relatedTo set)	xpath string to walk through the entities	See Related type
relatedArgument	no	related argument index, useful for many relatedTo values	0, 1, 2, ...
public	no	show or hide such methods	true, false
protected	no	show or hide such methods	true, false
private	no	show or hide such methods	true, false
abstract	no	show or hide such methods	true, false
static	no	show or hide such methods	true, false
dynamic	no	show or hide such methods	true, false
children	no	feature processors

Example

<methods relatedTo="containingClass" static="false" />

files

Provide files and directories at the related filesystem point.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
relatedTo	no (if xpath set)	relative point to lookup for entries	See Related type
xpath	no (if relatedTo set)	xpath string to walk through the entities	See Related type
extension	no	file extension you want to filter and hide from autocompletion	(empty), php, blade.php, ...
children	no	feature processors

Example

Directory-related files

<files extension="" relatedTo="directory"/>

Absolute directory lookup

<files extension="" xpath="$project/resources/templates"/>

Processors

directoryProcessors is applied here as the children element.

directories

Provide directories only at the related filesystem point.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
relatedTo	no (if xpath set)	relative point to lookup for entries	See Related type
xpath	no (if relatedTo set)	xpath string to walk through the entities	See Related type
children	no	feature processors

Example

Directory-related files

<directories relatedTo="directory"/>

Absolute directory lookup

<directories xpath="$project/resources/templates"/>

Processors

directoryProcessors is applied here as the children element.

tables

Provide database table names.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
database	yes	connection exact name OR regular expression	main, .+, ...
children	no	feature processors

Example

<tables />

returnType

Overrides returning type by matching value alias.

returnType:

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
children	no	aliases list

alias:

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	argument value matched returning class	int, user
class	yes	fully qualified class name	\IntResult, \UserFactory

Example

<returnType>
    <alias name="int" class="\IntResult" />
    <alias name="string" class="\StringResult" />
    <alias name="null" class="\NullResult" />
    <alias name="object" class="\ObjectResult" />
</returnType>

variableInjection

Injects variable into the target.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	variable name	this, urlGenerator
class	yes	fully qualified class name	\Framework\View\View, \Framework\Router\UrlGenerator

Note: variableInjection feature works properly only with files target.

Example

<variableInjection name="this" class="\Framework\View\View" />

labgyageInjection

Injects language support into the target.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
language	yes	known PHPStorm language	RegExp, CSS, SQL

Example

<labgyageInjection language="RegExp" />

collection

Provide value from the defined collections

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	collection name	tags, cycle/orm:entities
argument	yes	position of the argument you want to make interactive	0, 1, 2, ...
children	no	feature processors

Example

<collection name="workflows_methods" argument="0" />

Global collections

Name	Description	Example
GLOBAL:html-tags	Provides known html tags	div, span, abbr
GLOBAL:http-methods	Provides HTTP methods	GET, POST, PUT
GLOBAL:php-classes	Provides php full qualified class names	div, span, abbr
GLOBAL:php-interfaces	Provides php full qualified interface names	div, span, abbr
GLOBAL:php-functions	Provides php full qualified function names	div, span, abbr
GLOBAL:env	Provides collected ENV variables from putenv function calls and .env files	APP_ENV, APP_DEBUG

Collections

Using collections helps to first define a set of values, prepare, filter and then use as definitions.

Collections can be merged. So it's possible to build a collection with different sources (attributes, yaml, json, php).

All collections must be defined in the collections tag in the root xml tag:

<meta-storm xmlns="meta-storm">
    <definitions>
        <target>
            <collection name="" /> // <-- there is only usage of the collection defined below
        </target>
    </definitions>
    <collections>
        ... // <-- there are collection definitions
    </collections>
</meta-storm>

attributeClass

Collects attribute from the attribute usage.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	collection name	tags, cycle/orm:entities
class	yes	fully qualified attribute class name	\Attributes\AsCommand

Example

<attributeClass
        name="workflows_classes"
        class="\Framework\ClassMarker"
/>

attributeArgument

Collects argument from the attribute usage.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	collection name	tags, cycle/orm:entities
class	yes	fully qualified attribute class name	\Attributes\AsCommand
argument	yes	position of the argument you want to collect	0, 1, 2, ...

Example

<attributeArgument
        name="commands"
        class="\Framework\Command"
        argument="0"
/>

jsonFile

Collects keys from the json file.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	collection name	tags, cycle/orm:entities
xpath	yes	xpath string to walk through the entities	$project/resources/translations/en.json

Example

<jsonFile name="translations" xpath="$directory/en.json" />

strings

Defines static strings from the current definition.

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	collection name	tags, cycle/orm:entities
children	no	strings itself

Example

<strings name="static_strings">
    <value>Hello</value>
    <value>Static</value>
    <value>World</value>
</strings>

Environment Variables Overview

Environment variables make it able to have late static binding for vendor <-> user definitions.

E.g., you as a vendor may define default path or a part of path, database name, default class or whatever*, buy a user when face with its custom settings will have incorrect behaviour.

This is when envs will come in useful:

• Replace a changing part with an env
• Set default value
• Let user redefine the variable

A few rules about the envs:

• Variable name must be in uppercase
• Values outside the vendor folder override those within it
• Since there may be multiple files, the order of value overwriting is not guaranteed

envs

Defines variables to be replaced in some other strings.

env

Parameter	Required	Description	Possible values
name	yes	variable name	VIEW-THEME, YII2/FRAMEWORK:VIEW-THEME
value	yes	variable values	dark, database-name, ...
children	no	feature processors

Example

<envs>
    <env name="VIEW-THEME" value="dark" />
</envs>

Other

relatedTo

• Complex parameter changes interpretation of the files
• Possible values:
  • file – related to the current (opened) file
  • containingClass – related to the current (opened) class
  • directory – related to the current file directory
  • project – related to the project path
  • argument – related to the positioned argument: it's $obj in $service->method($obj, $prop)
  • variable – related to the variable holding the method: it's $service in $service->method()

xpath

XPath for <files>

• A string used to walk through the file system, like regular Unix-based FS path
• XPath must be started from a relative point:
  • $project – project base path
  • $file – related to the current file
  • $directory – related to the current directory

Examples

Absolute directory

$project/resources/templates

Current directory

$directory/views

Current file

$file/../views

XPath for <methods>, <properties>, <arrayValues>

• A string used to walk through the programming entities: classes, methods, properties, constants, etc
• XPath must be started from a relative point:
  • $containingClass – means the class in which context the target is placed
  • $argument – related to the positioned argument: it's $obj in $service->method($obj, $prop)
  • $variable – related to the variable holding the method: it's $service in $service->method()
• After you specified starting point you may walk further:
  • Each "entrance" must be a dot symbol: .
  • Each "property" must be prefixed with a dollar symbol: $
  • Each "method return type" must have double squares as a suffix : ()
• Lookup supports:
  • Typed properties: private Class $property
  • Untyped properties with reference inside: private string $propertyClass = Class::class
  • Typed methods' returning: public function methodA(): Class

Examples

Look through a property in a factory

$containingClass.$originalClass

Look through the decorator

$variable.$decorated

Could be chained any number of times

$variable.$a.$b.$c.$d.methoA().methodB()

Processors

regexp

• Regular expression based processor, helps you to change directory, convert camelCase to snake_case and other
• Parameters:
  • from: required
    • Regular expression
  • to: required
    • Regular expression, could you $1, $2, etc as group references
• Supports envs substitution

Examples

Converts HelloWorld to Hello-World

<regexp from="([a-z])([A-Z])" to="$1-$2"/>

Using envs:

<regexp from="(${VIEW-THEME})" to="$1-${VIEW-THEME}"/>

case

• Regular expression based processor, helps you to change directory, convert camelCase to snake_case and other
• Parameters:
  • from: required
    • Regular expression
  • case: required
    • lower
    • upper
• from supports envs substitution

Examples

Converts /MyPath/To/HelloWorld to /MyPath/To/helloworld

<regexp from="[^/]+$" case="lower"/>

append

• Such prefixing basically used for some static values like static path from the project directory
• Parameters:
  • value: required
    • String
• Supports envs substitution

Examples

Regular case:

<append value="/common/mail"/>

Using envs:

<append value="/resources/themes/${VIEW-THEME}/layout"/>

XSD Scheme

The plugin for PhpStorm natively adds support of XSD scheme, but if you want to look at it deeper please open the link.

Screenshots

references

autocomplete

collections