What’s New in PhpStorm 2020.2

To enable the PHP 8 related features, switch the language level to PHP 8 in any of the following ways:

• Use the Alt+Enter quick-fix directly in the code editor.
• Go to Preferences | Languages & Frameworks | PHP and use the PHP language level list.
• Specify the PHP version requirement in composer.json, and PhpStorm will pick it up automatically.

PhpStorm analyzes calls, calculates possible types, and highlights problem areas relating to union types.

The checks work on all levels: properties, arguments, and return values.

In complex code bases, it helps you see the problems at first glance. PhpStorm will highlight places that require attention even before the code is run.

There are many type combinations that are forbidden or redundant. For example:

• bool|false
• Foo|Foo
• object|User
• iterable|array or iterable|Traversable

All of them are highlighted by PhpStorm as invalid.

When there is a single nullable type, it is allowed to use either ?Type notation or Type|null in PHP 8.

But when there are multiple types combined with null, using ?Type1|Type2 is forbidden as ambiguous.

PhpStorm highlights these violations and provides an Alt+Enter quick-fix to convert them.

During inheritance, PHP allows you to modify types if you follow these basic rules:

• Parameter types are contravariant, i.e. can be extended.
• Return types are covariant, i.e. can only be narrowed down.
• Property types have to evaluate to the same type.

Luckily, with PhpStorm there is no need to remember these rules as it will check the code and highlight any violations.

In PHP 8 there will be a special false pseudotype that can be used only in union type declarations.

It is widely used in the standard library, see strpos() or array_search(), for example, and can be applied elsewhere to indicate a negative result.

PhpStorm highlights incorrect usages and takes type inference into account.

PhpStorm can now analyze complex code paths and detect if the condition in an if-else block makes sense or is redundant.

Similar to conditions, PhpStorm is able to detect when instanceof checks are appropriate, or if they always evaluate to true because of the inferred type in the type hierarchy.

The new action lets you see the inferred type of any selected expression.

When coding, you can select an expression and check its type by using the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+P or View | Type Info menu.

PhpStorm can detect when the variable is guaranteed to be null only. In this case, the IDE suggests simplifying the expression to make it clearer.

If there are custom sources specified in the “repositories” section, you will get completion for custom packages.

There is now a gutter icon showing the current state of the caching of custom repositories.

When a package has multiple versions separated with a comma or pipes (||), PhpStorm provides completion with all available versions for this package.

It used to be that completion was lost after typing ~, ^, or >=, but now it works as expected with any of these range constraints in composer.json.

If there is an array declared and updated somewhere in the code, but it is never read, it means that the array is very likely redundant and adds noise to the code.

The inspection detects such cases and prompts you to remove the array to make the code cleaner.

If a typed property does not have a default value, it is considered uninitialized. Reading uninitialized properties will generate a TypeError (unless magic __get() is defined).

PhpStorm detects uninitialized properties and highlights code that attempts to read them.

Want to use Prettier instead of the built-in formatter to tidy up your code? With this update, it has become even easier than before. Just tick the new On code reformat checkbox and the IDE will use Prettier whenever you reformat your .js, .ts, .jsx, and .tsx files. Other file types can be easily added, too.

Nuxt.js support, Vue-specific code style settings, improvements around Vue in TypeScript projects, and a lot of other things were added in the past year. Vue support in PhpStorm has never been so advanced!

New smart Alt+Enter intentions will help you perform some actions faster. For example, you can now quickly convert a for loop with a numeric index into a forEach array method. Looking through documentation comments in JavaScript and TypeScript files has also become easier as you can now render them right in the editor, minimizing distractions.

PhpStorm 2020.2 supports Git installed in WSL 2 for working with projects located in Linux and Windows file systems.

The IDE can switch between Git executables depending on the project location. When a project is opened from WSL (via \\wsl$ path), the IDE will automatically switch to Git from WSL, and it will also provide you with the ability to use all the Git-related features in the IDE.

When you want to compare two branches to see which commits do not belong to one another, PhpStorm 2020.2 will show the logs in the editor instead of the Git tool window. This will ensure that there is enough space to display all the information.

Choose the Compare with Current action from the Git Branches popup menu VCS | Branches.

You can now easily remove redundant local commits by selecting them in the Log tab of the Git tool window and choosing Drop Commit from the context menu.

It is also possible to combine several local commits into one single commit, for example, to clean up history before pushing.

In the Git tool window, select commits and choose Squash Commits… from the context menu.

The IDE will run an interactive rebase behind the scenes.

Now if you have a huge value in your cell, it can be viewed or edited in a separate panel. You can also toggle soft wrap mode using the right-hand toolbar. Use all the power of our code editor for your data.

We’ve added a new SQL dialect: Google BigQuery. Full support for BigQuery is not here yet, but all things must begin somewhere. So far, PhpStorm can correctly highlight and provide coding assistance for your queries if you use Google BigQuery.

You can review the query that represents your changes in the data editor. There is a DML button that is active if there are pending changes. This query is not the exact SQL that will be run to modify your data, because PhpStorm uses a JDBC driver to update tables, but most of the time it will be the same.