NetBeans DOMNodeList foreach hints are incorrect

I have been using NetBeans for some time. I have found it to be a clean, powerful, and elegant IDE for PHP web development. However, using foreach around a DOMNodeList, such as after a DOMXPath query, can produce incorrect syntax hints.

$booksDom = new DOMDocument();
$booksDom->load("/path/to/file.xml");
$xpath = new DOMXPath($booksDom);
$booksDOMNodeList = $xpath->query("//book]");
foreach ($booksDOMNodeList as $i => $bookDOMElement) {
    $bookDOMElement->|
}

If you try autocomplete on the | above, it treats $bookDOMElement as a DOMNodeList, even though $bookDOMElement is actually a DOMElement. There is another way to write the loop where NetBeans autocompletes correctly.

$booksDom = new DOMDocument();
$booksDom->load("/path/to/file.xml");
$xpath = new DOMXPath($booksDom);
$booksDOMNodeList = $xpath->query("//book]");
for ($i = 0; $i < $booksDOMNodeList->length; $i++) {
    $bookDOMElement = $booksDOMNodeList->item($i);
    $bookDOMElement->|
}

The example above produces correct code hints, although it adds another line. Note: I could have used $bookDOMElement = $booksDOMNodeList->item($i); inside the first example's foreach loop, but I do not think it looks as neat.

Published: 06/02/2013 UTC

Updated: 18/06/2026 UTC

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