reading / parsing Docblock in own file

Question

Assuming I have a docblock like so :

 * @since       0.0.1  
 * @subpackage  my-package
 * @todo        too much
 * @var        int $myvar
 * @version    0.0.99

or :

 * Name: my app name
 * URI: http://www.someurl.com
 * Description: A Simple description.
 * Version: 0.0.99
 * Author: Obmerk99
 * Author URI: http://www.someuri.com
 * Text Domain: for get_text
 * Domain Path: /lang
 *

How can I parse the docblock to use those strings on the same file ?

My goal is to simply use the @version number from the docblock thorough the whole document every time I change it ,without having to add another $version = 'myversion'

I know there are docblock parser classes, but I could not find how to read own file . ( my own question - from long ago, offers somewhat of a solution but only for external files and at any rate is not ideal because it involves opening and writing the file each time)

Also , in the pear example page , it appears they are somehow using ( as far as my understanding ) the version number as a variable - But I can not understand How ...

example Version I

* @version    SVN: $Id$

example Version II :

* @version    CVS: <?php
$
?> Id:$

( I do not know why the two sample pages are different ( URLs en and zh ) - maybe it is just a small webug. ) but at any case I do not understand how to apply it .

The point is this : how can I use the docblock as strings in the file itself - or alternatively reversing the logic and use variables from the document in the docblock so I will always need to declare the version number ( and potentially other vars ) only ONCE.

Answer 1

I think the only thing you can do is use a parser, or perform search/replace (with regexes)

One other way would be to implement it with Reflection: http://www.phpriot.com/articles/reflection-api Seems to me that that would be the way to go, if you have PHP5 available :)