To get PHP 5.4 features available in the existing project go to Project Properties -> Sources -> PHP Version and select PHP 5.4. When creating a new project using New Project Wizard select PHP version from the drop-down menu on the second screen Name and Location.
You can find more on array dereferencing in RFC on PHP Wiki.
class MyCollection { public function doSomething() { } } class ArrayDereferencing { /** * * @var MyCollection[] */ private $myCollection = array(); /** * * @return MyCollection[] */ public function getCollection() { return $this->myCollection; } public function getElementAndDoSomething($index) { return $this->getCollection()[$index]->doSomething(); } }
Code completion in the NetBeans PHP Editor:
Ondrej Brejla in the article PHP 5.4 Support: Array Dereferencing on Oracle blog called user to test new PHP 5.4 features and file (component PHP, subcomponent Editor) any issues found.