How to document an accessor/mutator method in phpDoc/javaDoc?
- by nickf
Given a function which behaves as either a mutator or accessor depending on the arguments passed to it, like this:
// in PHP, you can pass any number of arguments to a function...
function cache($cacheName) {
$arguments = func_get_args();
if (count($arguments) >= 2) { // two arguments passed. MUTATOR.
$value = $arguments[1]; // use the second as the value
$this->cache[$cacheName] = $value; // *change* the stored value
} else { // 1 argument passed, ACCESSOR
return $this->cache[$cacheName]; // *get* the stored value
}
}
cache('foo', 'bar'); // nothing returned
cache('foo') // 'bar' returned
How do you document this in PHPDoc or a similar automated documentation creator? I had originally just written it like this:
/**
* Blah blah blah, you can use this as both a mutator and an accessor:
* As an accessor:
* @param $cacheName name of the variable to GET
* @return string the value...
*
* As a mutator:
* @param $cacheName name of the variable to SET
* @param $value the value to set
* @return void
*/
However, when this is run through phpDoc, it complains because there are 2 return tags, and the first @param $cacheName description is overwritten by the second.
Is there a way around this?
