Reflection Laravel Package

Getting Started

Start by installing the package via Composer: composer require phpdocumentor/reflection. Unlike phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock, this is a newer, modern library (v4+) designed for static analysis of PHP codebases—ideal for tools like linters, IDEs, or documentation generators. The core entry points are File, Folder, and ProjectBuilder. To begin analyzing a single file:

use phpDocumentor\Reflection\ProjectBuilder;
use phpDocumentor\Reflection\Fixture\File;

$projectBuilder = new ProjectBuilder();
$project = $projectBuilder->buildFromDirectory(__DIR__ . '/src');
foreach ($project->getFiles() as $file) {
    echo "Analyzed file: " . $file->getFilename() . "\n";
}

Read the README and the API docs for detailed usage.

Implementation Patterns

• Project-wide analysis: Use ProjectBuilder to build a complete model of a PHP codebase, enabling cross-file analysis (e.g., finding all usages of a class across a project).
• AST-level introspection: Access raw AST nodes via $file->getStatements() for custom static analysis rules (e.g., detecting code smells).
• Custom data extraction: Build lightweight tools that extract type hints, docblocks, or class structures for reporting or linting—useful in CI pipelines.
• Integration with Symfony/CLI tools: Wrap analysis in a Symfony Command for custom linters or documentation generators.
• Caching: Leverage FileListCollector and serialized project caches to speed up repeated analysis in long-running tools.

Gotchas and Tips

• PHP version support: Requires PHP 8.1+; ensure your tooling aligns with this. Old syntax (e.g., legacy PHP 7 code) may cause parse failures—add custom error handlers or skip non-compliant files.
• Performance: Full project builds can be memory-heavy. Use ProjectBuilder::buildFromDirectory() with a filter callback to limit scope, or analyze files incrementally.
• Empty getNamespaces(): If your project has no declared namespace, getNamespaces() returns empty. Always check $file->getNamespaceName() for null or empty strings.
• Docblock parsing quirks: Not all docblock structures are standardized. Use File->getDocBlock() cautiously—test with a variety of comment styles.
• Extensibility: Extend ProjectBuilder or implement custom NodeVisitors to inject domain-specific analysis logic (e.g., enforce internal naming conventions).
• Debugging: Enable ErrorHandler::disable() to prevent silent parse failures during development—actual errors get thrown as ParseError exceptions.