PHPStan Rules for OpenEMR

Composer-installable PHPStan rules for OpenEMR core and module development. Enforces modern coding patterns and best practices.

Installation

composer require --dev opencoreemr/openemr-phpstan-rules

Usage

For OpenEMR Core Development

Include the core ruleset in your phpstan.neon:

includes:
    - vendor/opencoreemr/openemr-phpstan-rules/core.neon

For OpenEMR Module Development

Include the module ruleset in your phpstan.neon:

includes:
    - vendor/opencoreemr/openemr-phpstan-rules/module.neon

Rules

Core Rules (for OpenEMR Core and Modules)

Database Rules

ForbiddenFunctionsRule

• Forbids: Legacy sql.inc.php functions (sqlQuery, sqlStatement, sqlInsert, etc.)
• Requires: QueryUtils methods instead
• Example:

  // ❌ Forbidden
  $result = sqlStatement($sql, $binds);
  
  // ✅ Required
  $records = QueryUtils::fetchRecords($sql, $binds);

ForbiddenClassesRule

• Forbids: Laminas-DB classes (Laminas\Db\Adapter, Laminas\Db\Sql, etc.)
• Requires: QueryUtils or DatabaseQueryTrait

Globals Rules

ForbiddenGlobalsAccessRule

• Forbids: Direct $GLOBALS array access
• Requires: OEGlobalsBag::getInstance()
• Example:

  // ❌ Forbidden
  $value = $GLOBALS['some_setting'];
  
  // ✅ Required
  $globals = OEGlobalsBag::getInstance();
  $value = $globals->get('some_setting');

Testing Rules

NoCoversAnnotationRule

• Forbids: @covers annotations on test methods
• Rationale: Excludes transitively used code from coverage reports

NoCoversAnnotationOnClassRule

• Forbids: @covers annotations on test classes
• Rationale: Same as above - incomplete coverage tracking

Module-Specific Rules (for OpenEMR Modules Only)

These additional rules enforce Symfony-inspired MVC patterns in OpenEMR modules.

CatchThrowableNotExceptionRule

• Forbids: catch (\Exception $e)
• Requires: catch (\Throwable $e)
• Rationale: Catches both exceptions and errors (TypeError, ParseError, etc.)
• Example:

  // ❌ Forbidden
  try {
      $service->doSomething();
  } catch (\Exception $e) {
      // Misses TypeError, ParseError, etc.
  }
  
  // ✅ Required
  try {
      $service->doSomething();
  } catch (\Throwable $e) {
      // Catches everything
  }

NoSuperGlobalsInControllersRule

• Forbids: $_GET, $_POST, $_FILES, $_SERVER in Controller classes
• Requires: Symfony Request object methods
• Example:

  // ❌ Forbidden in controllers
  $name = $_POST['name'];
  $filter = $_GET['filter'];
  
  // ✅ Required
  $request = Request::createFromGlobals();
  $name = $request->request->get('name');
  $filter = $request->query->get('filter');

NoLegacyResponseMethodsRule

• Forbids: header(), http_response_code(), die(), exit, direct echo in controllers
• Requires: Symfony Response objects
• Example:

  // ❌ Forbidden in controllers
  header('Location: /some/path');
  http_response_code(404);
  echo json_encode($data);
  die('Error');
  
  // ✅ Required
  return new RedirectResponse('/some/path');
  return new Response($content, 404);
  return new JsonResponse($data);
  throw new ModuleException('Error');

ControllersMustReturnResponseRule

• Forbids: Controller methods returning void or no return type
• Requires: Return type declaration of Response or subclass
• Example:

  // ❌ Forbidden
  public function handleRequest(): void
  {
      // ...
  }
  
  // ✅ Required
  public function handleRequest(): Response
  {
      return new Response($content);
  }

Rule Configuration

You can selectively enable rules by creating your own configuration:

# Custom phpstan.neon
services:
    # Just database rules
    - class: OpenCoreEMR\PHPStan\Rules\Database\ForbiddenFunctionsRule
      tags:
          - phpstan.rules.rule

    # Just module controller rules
    - class: OpenCoreEMR\PHPStan\Rules\Module\NoSuperGlobalsInControllersRule
      tags:
          - phpstan.rules.rule

Baselines

If you're adding these rules to an existing codebase, generate a baseline to exclude existing violations:

vendor/bin/phpstan analyze --generate-baseline

New code will still be checked against all rules.

Migration Guides

See MIGRATION_GUIDE.md for detailed migration patterns for each rule.

Development

Running Tests

# Install dependencies
composer install

# Run PHPStan on the rules themselves
vendor/bin/phpstan analyze

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Follow existing code style and patterns
2. Add tests for new rules
3. Update documentation

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See LICENSE

Authors

• Michael A. Smith [email protected]

Links

• OpenEMR
• OpenCoreEMR
• PHPStan Documentation