Re: [pdt-dev] code assist development

[Philip Olson <philip@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 8:34 PM, Sjaak Eenhuis  
> <exceptione@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Currently, pdt doesn't indicate if a certain function parameter is  
> > required or optional. As I understand from http://doc.php.net/php/dochowto/chapter-skeletons.php 
> >  you provide this information allready.
> >
> > So visually indicating what is required and what not is something  
> > which can be accomplished already by the pdt developers.
> >
> > However, as far as I can see the docbook sources don't contain the  
> > actual default value of such an optional parameter. This would come  
> > in handy, in cases like
> >
> > string htmlspecialchars ( string $string [, int $quote_style =  
> > ENT_COMPAT [, string $charset [, bool $double_encode = true ]]] )
> >
> > If I want to use htmlspecialchars with ENT_NOQUOTES I want to see  
> > whether I need to override the default of $quote_style.
> > I've encoutered this type of issues more than once and this info is  
> > imho useful enough to have it.
> >
> > I am curious about your opinions.

On Oct 22, 2009, at 11:41 AM, Michael Spector wrote:
> The generated PHP language model does contain an indication about  
> optional parameters in PHPDoc and using parameter initializer (if  
> you open standard.php you'll see it). The problem is that Code  
> Assist doesn't really use this information to present it in a fancy  
> style that you mentioned. We can fix it in the future.

I'm not sure what percentage of PHP documentation with optional  
parameters utilizes the <initializer> markup, but somewhere between  
80-98%. Your suggestion provides the idea that we should check this  
and ensure proper values (and consistency) throughout the PHP manual,  
and I'll hack something up to check this soon.

I can't speak of PDT specifics but do want to provide IDE developers  
with the most information possible, and this includes default values  
for optional parameters. Maybe one day there will be a universal  
format for this type information that most/all IDEs will share and  
use, with the only difference being how it's presented. Dare to  
dream? :)

Regards,
Philip