PhpStorm 2018.3 Help

JavaScript Documentation Look-Up

PhpStorm shows you reference for standard JavaScript APIs, for symbols from your project and from its dependencies, as well as for symbols defined in external libraries. You can view the documentation for symbols in the Documentation pop-up window, get information on method parameters, and open documentation on external sites if links to them are available.

To view documentation for a symbol at caret

  • Press Ctrl+Q or choose View | Quick Documentation Lookup on the main menu. The reference for the symbol is shown in the Documentation pop-up window.
    • For a project symbol or for a symbol from the project dependencies, PhpStorm generates the documentation from the corresponding JSDoc comment.

    • For a standard JavaScript object or method, PhpStorm shows the corresponding JSDoc comment from the built-in TypeScript definition files (d.ts). These files are bundled with PhpStorm and updated on a regular basis.

    • If no comment is found in the d.ts files, PhpStorm shows a summary from the corresponding MDN article.

To view the MDN documentation for a symbol at caret, do one of the following:

  • In the Documentation window (Ctrl+Q), click the link at the bottom of the window:

    ws_mdn_docs.png

  • Press Shift+F1 or choose View | External Documentation on the main menu.

To view documentation for a third-party JavaScript library

  1. Download the required library or framework, configure it as an external JavaScript library, and specify the link to its external documentation, see Configuring a custom third-party JavaScript library for details.

  2. Position the cursor at the symbol in question and press Shift+F1 or choose View | External Documentation on the main menu.

To view documentation for an npm package

  • In a package.json file or in a require or import statement, position the cursor at the name of the package and press Ctrl+Q

    ws_quick_doc_for_npm_package.png

  • To open the documentation on the npm official website in the browser, press Shift+F1.

To view reference in a tool window

  • Pin the Documentation pop-up window. It turns into the Documentation tool window, with the corresponding sidebar icon and more controls.

To show documentation automatically

  1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), click General under Editor, then click Code Completion. The Code Completion page opens.

  2. Select the Show the documentation popup checkbox and specify the elapsed time.

To change the font size of quick documentation, do one of the following:

  • Click show slider in the upper-right corner of the quick documentation window, and move the slider.

  • In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), click General under Editor and select the Change font size (Zoom) with Ctrl+Mouse Wheel checkbox.

Last modified: 18 March 2019

See Also