PHP Type Hinting using Netbeans
Approach 1: Return type declaration: <?php function getUser () : User { //... } $a = getUser(); $a -> // PRESS CTRL-SPACE TO AUTO COMPLETE Approach 2: Using annotation @var <?php function getUser () { //... } /* @var $a User */ $a = getUser(); $a -> // PRESS CTRL-SPACE TO AUTO COMPLETE Approach 3: Using annotation @return <?php /** * @return User */ function getUser () { //... } $a = getUser(); $a -> // PRESS CTRL-SPACE TO AUTO COMPLETE I preferred approach 2 and 3 For PHP 7.1 support, use nightly build of netbeans from here: http://bits.netbeans.org/download/trunk/nightly/latest/