Fails on model methods with complex return types

[tminich]

Versions:

• ide-helper Version: 3.5.5
• PHP Version: 8.4.7

Description:

Generating helper data for models that have methods with more complex return types currently fails.

Example:

class Test extends Model {
    public function test(): (A&B)|null
}

What happens is this:

• ModelCommand::getPropertiesFromMethods() inspects all model methods to look for methods that implement something Laravel will interpret as an attribute
• It calls ModelCommand::getReturnTypeFromReflection() to inspect the return type and, as far as I can see, flatten null
• The latter then calls ModelCommand::extractReflectionTypes(), which explodes on the example as it tries to call ReflectionIntersectionType::getName()

The core issue is that extractReflectionTypes assumes the type is either a simple named type or a union type of named types. Since php 8.1 types can get a lot more complex as union and intersection types can be nested.

Suggestions:

This looks like a very central and pretty hard and lengthy thing to thoroughly fix for all applications.
As a somewhat quick fix (as this blocks helper docs for the model) I think one of the following could work:

• Add a php attribute (e.g. IdeHelperIgnore) that the developer can add to a method and ide helper will then skip it. This would also need better error reporting. While this is certainly a band-aid solution, it could help quick-solving future issues.
• Check for the complexity of the return type and, if too complex, warn and skip the method
• Check for the complexity of the return type and, if too complex, fall back to ReflectionType::__toString() in ModelCommand::getReturnTypeFromReflection()