Available Tasks

The list of built-in tasks shipped with the meta file generator.

Plugins

After installing a plugin and regenerating metadata, your IDE can complete the available plugin names in Application.php calls to addPlugin():

    public function bootstrap(): void {
        // ...
        $this->addPlugin('TypeHere');
    }

This is especially useful for more complex and possibly vendor-prefixed names (e.g. 'Cake/TwigView', note the forward slash).

Models

/** @var \App\Model\Table\UsersTable $users */
$users = TableRegistry::getTableLocator()->get('Users');
$users->doSomething();

So far $users required the annotation above to be type-hinted and clickable. With the generated meta file this is no longer necessary. The static factory call is detected and $users is hinted as \App\Model\Table\UsersTable, making doSomething() available in the IDE for method argument checking and following.

This task also annotates dynamic model factory calls (e.g. $this->getTableLocator()->get('Users')) and fetchTable() calls. Legacy fetchModel() calls are also supported.

If you prefer FQCN as the argument, you still get the benefit for the return type:

use App\Model\Table\UsersTable;

$users = TableRegistry::getTableLocator()->get(UsersTable::class);
$users->doSomething();

It now knows the concrete object of $users and can autocomplete the method call right away. You will not be able to quickly select from a list of input options in this form, however.

Entities

The following are auto-completed, for example:

$user->setDirty('field_name');
$user->setError('field_name');
$user->getOriginal('field_name');
// ...

TableAssociations

The following are auto-completed, for example:

$this->belongsTo('Authors');
$this->hasOne('Book');
$this->hasMany('Articles');
$this->belongsToMany('Tags.Tags');

TableFinders

The 'threaded' string is now auto-completed, for example:

$this->Posts->find('threaded');

Preemptive finders

Using Configure key 'IdeHelper.preemptive' set to true, you can be a bit more verbose and include all possible custom finders, including those from behaviors.

Behaviors

The following are auto-completed, for example:

$this->addBehavior('Tools.Slugged');
$this->removeBehavior('Slugged'); // Note the alias without plugin prefix

Components

The following are auto-completed, for example:

$this->loadComponent('My.Useful');
$this->components()->unload('Useful'); // Note the alias without plugin prefix

Helpers

The following are auto-completed, for example:

$this->loadHelper('Tools.Tree');

And so is addHelper() (added in CakePHP 4.1) on the ViewBuilder:

$this->viewBuilder()
    ->addHelper('TinyAuth.AuthUser')
    ->addHelper('Tools.Tree');

Mailers

The following is auto-completed and returns the corresponding Mailer class:

$userMailer = $this->getMailer('User');

Types

In your bootstrap (app or plugin) you might add additional database Type classes, or reconfigure existing ones:

\Cake\Database\TypeFactory::build('date')->useLocaleParser()->setLocaleFormat('d.m.Y');
\Cake\Database\TypeFactory::build('datetime')->useLocaleParser()->setLocaleFormat('d.m.Y H:i');

The IDE recognizes the returned type of class and allows auto-complete here, too. Same for TypeFactory::map() and type strings like integer, string, etc.:

\Cake\Database\TypeFactory::map('decimal', \Cake\Database\Type\DecimalType::class);

Elements

Heavy users of elements in templates: tired of typing the full template name in $this->element('...') calls? PhpStorm auto-completes this, including all elements from plugins.

Layouts

$this->viewBuilder->setLayout(...) is auto-completed.

Cache

Cache::write(), Cache::read() and other methods are auto-completed for the cache engine(s) available.

FormHelper

$this->Form->control() is auto-completed for the model fields available.

Validation

Validator::requirePresence()

Now not just bool, but also the possible "magic strings" are type-hinted and usable as single click/enter.

Request params

$this->request->getParam() auto-completes for prefix, controller and other common keys.

Configure keys

Configure::read() and the other methods are auto-completed for currently existing keys. Numeric keys are excluded as they are usually not part of an associative array config.

ENV keys

env() is auto-completed for most common and used keys.

Translation keys

Using __() and __d() can be auto-completed based on your project's .po files.

Quoting limitation

PhpStorm is not smart enough yet to auto-adjust any (escaped or not) quotes in your strings. So in those cases you must use ' as delimiters for your strings if you want auto-complete:

<?php echo __('A "quoted" string'); ?>
<?php echo __('A \'literally quoted\' string'); ?>
<?php echo __('A variable \'\'{0}\'\' be replaced.', __('will')); ?>

Any further ' inside will be escaped for you.

ConnectionManager

ConnectionManager::get() is auto-completed for the currently configured connection aliases.

Fixtures

TestCase::addFixture() is auto-completed for the currently available fixtures from app, core, and plugins.

Migrations plugin database tables

When using the Migrations plugin, this task comes in handy to quickly autocomplete existing tables, their column names, and possible column types.

It excludes CakePHP internal tables and all phinxlog ones by default. You can use a regex blacklist to further exclude certain tables:

'IdeHelper' => [
    'skipDatabaseTables' => [
        '/customRegexPattern/',
        // ...
    ],
],