Why angle brackets will not recognized by eclipse?

Question

We are using comments like this in eclipse (zend studio):

/**
 * @return array<ObjectXY>
 */
public function moo() {
  // returns array of objectxy
}

Now if I want to use method moo, I write:

$myobj->moo();

And then, if I hover with mouse above moo I get the following output in the comment box:

@return array

Where is the "ObjectXY" after array? Why is it missing? Can I configure this in eclipse (zend studio)?

Thank you.

EDIT: I see in stackoverflow strings within angle brackets do not be shown as well.

Answer 1

Those comments (Javadoc style) can contain HTML content. So angle bracketed words are used for marking up the comment.

If you woul like the output itself to contain these brackets, use the @code notation:

/**
 * @return {@code array<ObjectXY>}
 */

This is naturally used for really displaying code snippets (and your example is one). The comment's return tag is usually for providing textual information, such as

/**
 * @return an {@code array<ObjectXY>} containing ...
 */

---

UPDATE as my first approach was slightly wrong.

As you are using the Zend Studio IDE for developping PHP applications, this style of comments is not called Javadoc, but PHPDoc.

The statement that angle bracketed words are used for marking up, is still correct. But the solution seems to be wrong. In Javadoc, the @code notation is a relatively new one. Before it was <code>...</code>. Unfortunately this alone will not show the bracketed word. It must go along with <pre>...</pre> (or you should maybe use pre alone). Maybe this works:

/**
 * @return an <code><pre>array<ObjectXY></pre></code> containing ...
 */