Coding Standard Laravel Package

Getting Started

1. Install via Composer: composer require --dev dms/coding-standard
2. Create phpcs.xml (or phpcs.xml.dist) in your project root with:

   <?xml version="1.0"?>
   <ruleset name="MyProject">
       <rule ref="DMS"/>
   </ruleset>
   

3. Run checks: vendor/bin/phpcs src/
4. Fix where possible: vendor/bin/phpcbf src/
   Start with enforcing declare(strict_types=1) and return type formatting—these are two of the most immediately noticeable deviations from stock PSR-2.

Implementation Patterns

• CI Integration: Add phpcs and phpcbf to pre-commit hooks and CI workflows (e.g., GitHub Actions) to catch violations early. Use phpcs --report-summary for concise feedback.
• IDE Integration: Configure PHPStorm/VSCode with PHPCS to show live sniffs. Ensure the External Tools > PHP Code Sniffer points to vendor/bin/phpcs.
• Gradual Adoption: For legacy codebases, start with a baseline: vendor/bin/phpcs --baseline=phpcs-baseline.xml src/, then incrementally shrink the baseline as you refactor.
• Override Strategically: Extend the DMS ruleset only where needed—e.g., allow @deprecated annotations on methods only in test files—by adding <rule ref="DMS.PHP.StrictTypes"> or custom filePattern filters.

Gotchas and Tips

• ⚠️ Strict types placement: Requires declare(strict_types=1) exactly one line after the opening PHP tag—even after docblocks like @codeCoverageIgnore. Misalignment causes sniff failures.
• ⚠️ Return type colons: The sniff enforces no space before :, but a space after in return types, e.g., function foo(): array {}, not function foo() : array {}. Double-check closures with function (): void {}.
• 🔧 Maturity warning: With only 1 star and last release in 2023, verify compatibility with modern PHPCS (3.7+) and PHP (8.0–8.3). Check phpcs -i to confirm the DMS standard is registered.
• 🧪 Test suites: Run phpcs only on src/ and tests/, but exclude vendor/, build/, and generated code (e.g., var/, dist/).
• 🔍 Debugging: Use phpcs -s -i to list enabled sniffs, and phpcs -v for verbose output when a sniff fails silently. If errors persist, inspect vendor/dms/coding-standard/Doctrine/ruleset.xml directly—its rules are inherited directly from Doctrine CS v8.