TypeValidator

Introduction

Validates types using PHP Doc descriptions and narrows types for PHPStan.

Imagine you're loading data from some external source. For PHP, this is mostly mixed (or some other common type like array/object), and PHPStan is unhappy with this. If data is some simple type, most of us will add something like:

assert(is_int($data)); // if we know, there will be always an int
if (!is_int($data)) throw new InvalidDataException(); // if we want to check this also in runtime

Both make PHPStan happy, and you code is also tested (the first example mostly in dev environment, where the assertion is on).

But when the loaded data is a complex type like list<array{type: int, dates?: array<string, \DateTime>, validator: class-string<IValidator>}>.

Checking this at runtime and making PHPStan happy is now harder. The goal of this library is to make this as simple as assert(is_int($data)).

Use assert(is_type($data, 'list<array{type: int, dates?: array<string, \DateTime>, validator: class-string<IValidator>}>')) and the variable is really checked for the correct type at runtime, and the type is also narrowed for PHPStan.

Code coverage is computed without PHPStan extension - only the PHP runtime part.

Installation

To use this extension, require it in Composer:

composer require --dev forrest79/type-validator

You probably only want this extension for development, but it can also be used in production (omit --dev).

Using

There is one global function is_type(mixed $var, string $type) and static methods Forrest79\TypeValidator::isType(mixed $var, string $type): bool or Forrest79\TypeValidator::checkType(mixed $var, string $type): void.

All of them really check the data in $var against the type description and there is corresponding PHPStan extension so PHPStan will understand, that $var is in described type.

The function is_type(mixed $var, string $type) and method Forrest79\TypeValidator::isType(mixed $var, string $type) return a bool - true if $var matches the $type, and false otherwise.

The Method Forrest79\TypeValidator::checkType(mixed $var, string $type) has no return, but it throws a CheckException, if $var does not match the $type.

Example:

$arr = [3.14, 5, 10];
assert(is_type($arr, 'list<float|int>'));
assert(Forrest79\TypeValidator::isType($arr, 'list<float|int>'));
Forrest79\TypeValidator::checkType($arr, 'list<float|int>'));

With this you can replace your @var annotations:

/** @var array<string|int, list<Db\Row>> $arr
$arr = json_decode($data);

With:

$arr = json_decode($data);
assert(is_type($arr, 'array<string|int, list<Db\Row>>'));

The benefit is that variable $arr is checked for defined type.

Almost all PHPDoc types from PHPStan are supported (more information about supported types is provided later in the docs).

To use this library as PHPStan extension include extension.neon in your project's PHPStan config:

includes:
    - vendor/forrest79/type-validator/extension.neon

Because of PHPStan, the type description must be a static string—nothing can be generated dynamically.

Use in production

Typically, the assert function is disabled in production, so checks are only performed in development/test environments, and there is no need to distribute this library in a production environment.

But you can use this for validation also in your production code. Parsing PHPDoc types is not too performance-intensive. This library depends on phpstan/phpdoc-parser for parsing types and nikic/php-parser for detection fully qualified class names.

FQN (Fully qualified names)

Correct fully qualified names are computed from the current namespace and use statements, just like every other item in your PHP source files. However, if you use a use statement only for this library, your IDE and PHPCS may mark it as unused because they don't know about this library:

Example:

namespace App;

use App\Presenter; // this use is marked as unused

assert($presenter, 'class-string<Presenter>'); // even though it is correctly used here

One solution is to concatenate the type string with ::class such as assert($presenter, 'class-string<\\' . Presenter::class . '>'). However, this looks very ugly. I prefer to use an FQN in the type description and omit the use statement:

namespace App;

assert($presenter, 'class-string<\App\Presenter>');

Supported PHPStan - PHPDoc Types

According to https://github.com/phpstan/phpstan/blob/2.1.x/website/src/writing-php-code/phpdoc-types.md

✅ supported 🚫 not supported - doesn't make sense for variables ❌ not supported

Basic types ✅/🚫/❌

• int, integer ✅
• string, non-empty-string, non-empty-lowercase-string, non-empty-uppercase-string, truthy-string, non-falsy-string, lowercase-string, uppercase-string ✅
• literal-string, non-empty-literal-string ❌
• numeric-string ✅
• __stringandstringable (string or object implementing Stringable interface or object with __toString() method) ✅
• array-key ✅
• bool, boolean, true, false ✅
• null ✅
• float, double ✅
• number, numeric ✅
• scalar, empty-scalar, non-empty-scalar ✅
• array, associative-array, non-empty-array ✅
• list, non-empty-list ✅
• iterable ✅
• callable, callable-string, callable-array, callable-object ✅, pure-callable ❌
• resource, open-resource, closed-resource ✅
• object ✅
• empty ✅
• mixed, non-empty-mixed ✅
• class-string, interface-string, trait-string, enum-string ✅
• void 🚫

Classes and interfaces ✅

Integer ranges ✅

• positive-int ✅
• negative-int ✅
• non-positive-int ✅
• non-negative-int ✅
• non-zero-int ✅
• int<0, 100> ✅
• int<min, 100> ✅
• int<50, max> ✅

General arrays ✅

• Type[] ✅
• array<Type> ✅
• array<int, Type> ✅
• non-empty-array<Type> ✅
• non-empty-array<int, Type> ✅

Lists ✅

• list<Type> ✅
• non-empty-list<Type> ✅

Key and value types of arrays and iterables ❌

• key-of<Type::ARRAY_CONST> ❌
• value-of<Type::ARRAY_CONST> ❌
• value-of<BackedEnum> ❌

Iterables ❌ (there can be some side effect while iterate in runtime to check correct type)

• iterable<Type> ❌
• Collection<Type> ❌
• Collection<int, Type> ❌
• Collection|Type[] ❌

Union types ✅

• Type1|Type2 ✅

Intersection types ✅

• Type1&Type2 ✅

Parentheses ✅

• (Type1&Type2)|Type3 ✅

self, static, parent and $this 🚫

• self, static, parent or $this 🚫

Generics ✅/🚫/❌ (some yes, some no, some doesn't make sense - concrete info can be found in the other types description)

Conditional return types 🚫

Utility types for generics ❌

• template-type ❌
• new ❌

class-string, interface-string ✅

• class-string<Foo> ✅
• interface-string<Interface> ✅

Global type aliases ❌

Local type aliases ❌

Array shapes ✅

• array{'foo': int, "bar": string} ✅
• array{'foo': int, "bar"?: string} ✅
• array{int, int} ✅
• array{0: int, 1?: int} ✅
• array{foo: int, bar: string} ✅

Object shapes ✅

• object{'foo': int, "bar": string} ✅
• object{'foo': int, "bar"?: string} ✅
• object{foo: int, bar?: string} ✅
• object{foo: int, bar?: string}&\stdClass ✅

Literals and constants ✅/❌

• 234 ✅
• 1.0 ✅
• 'foo'|'bar' ✅
• Foo::SOME_CONSTANT ❌
• Foo::SOME_CONSTANT|Bar::OTHER_CONSTANT ❌
• self::SOME_* ❌
• Foo::* ❌

Global constants ✅

• SOME_CONSTANT ✅
• SOME_CONSTANT|OTHER_CONSTANT ✅

Callables ❌ (only simple callable is supported)

• callable(int, int): string ❌
• callable(int, int=): string ❌
• callable(int $foo, string $bar): void ❌
• callable(string &$bar): mixed ❌
• callable(float ...$floats): (int|null) ❌
• callable(float...): (int|null) ❌
• \Closure(int, int): string ❌
• pure-callable(int, int): string ❌
• pure-Closure(int, int): string ❌

Bottom type 🚫

• never 🚫
• never-return 🚫
• never-returns 🚫
• no-return 🚫

Integer masks ✅/❌

• int-mask<1, 2, 4> ✅
• int-mask-of<1|2|4> ✅
• int-mask-of<Foo::INT_*> ❌

Offset access ❌