PHPDoc @return type equals class field type (in PhpStorm 10.0.4)

Question

So I have a trait like as below:

trait RepositoryTrait
{
    /**
     * Find a model by its primary key.
     *
     * @param int $id
     * @param array $columns
     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model|null
     */
    public function find($id, array $columns = ['*'])
    {
        return $this->query()->find($id, $columns);
    }
}

and the interface:

interface Repository
{
    /**
     * Find a model by its primary key.
     *
     * @param int $id
     * @param array $columns
     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model|null
     */
    public function find($id, array $columns = ['*']);
}

and I have repository class like:

class FixedAssetRepository implements Repository
{
    use RepositoryTrait;

    /**
     * FixedAsset model.
     *
     * @var FixedAsset
     */
    protected $model;

    /**
     * Repository constructor.
     *
     * @param FixedAsset $fixedAsset
     */
    public function __construct(FixedAsset $fixedAsset)
    {
        $this->model = $fixedAsset;
    }
}

and what I'm looking for is to define somehow that method find (in trait or interface) is type of FixedAsset - but this should work always for each new Repository class that I'll create (that implements Repository interface).

I need it for type hinting in PhpStorm 10.0.4

Is it possible somehow?

So the result should be that when I call somewhere I.e.:

$fixedAsset = $this->fixedAssetRepositry->find($id);

PhpStorm will know that $fixedAsset is a object of a class FixedAsset not just \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model (now is working like that).

So I need something that like in interface (or trait?):

   /**
     * Find a model by its primary key.
     *
     * @param int $id
     * @param array $columns
     * @return $this->model
     */
    public function find($id, array $columns = ['*']);

but of course @return $this->model doesn't work.

I'll be appreciated for any suggestions about that.

Answer 1

The only solution that I can think of right now would be using @method in PHPDoc comment for that FixedAssetRepository class and "redeclare" that find() method with correct signature (return type). Since it's a PHPDoc solution it will not have any effect on PHP code during runtime.

Sample code:

/**
 * @method FixedAsset find(int $id, array $columns) Find a model by its primary key
 */
class FixedAssetRepository implements Repository
{
...

More on the @method tag -- https://github.com/phpDocumentor/fig-standards/blob/master/proposed/phpdoc.md#711-method