Problem with Luabind 'class' method annotation

[alohaeee]

We use class function from luabind api to define classes in lua files.

class 'Test' 
function Test:SomeMethod() end

Meta annotation for class function look like this:

---luabind class registration
---@param name string
---@param inherit string?
---@class name
function class(name, inherit) end

Language server reports on that kind of classes Undefined global `Test`.Lua Diagnostics.(undefined-global)

To fix the problem we try to explicitly define table :

--- @class Test
Test={}
class 'Test' 
function Test:SomeMethod() end

This workaround adds annoying job and works partly. Because luabind generate extra methods for the table, that also good to be anotated.

How to annotate class function that it help to language server to define class for annotation engine. Is possible to use @generic in function to do that?

[emuell]

Same problem here. I tried to workaround this by definining a global class function for LuaLS in the type definition which emulates luabind's class function like this:

---Luabind "class" emulation in plain Lua.<br>
---Returns a callable table to set the base class.
---
---See [Luabind class](https://luabind.sourceforge.net/docs.html#class_lua)<br>
---@param name string
function class(name)
  -- globally register the new class as table with the given name
  local class_table = {}
  _G[name] = class_table -- NB: use 'rawset' in strict mode
  -- override class table's call operator to use the class name as constructor too
  setmetatable(class_table, {
    __call = function(self, ...)
      -- create a new instance of the class
      local new_object = {}
      setmetatable(new_object, {
        __index = class_table,
      })
      -- call new class' __init function, when its present
      if rawget(class_table, "__init") then
        class_table.__init(new_object, ...)
      end
      return new_object
    end
  })
  -- return a callable table which optionally sets a base class
  return setmetatable({}, {
    __call = function(self, base)
      for k, v in pairs(base) do
        class_table[k] = v
      end
    end
  })
end

Unfortunately LuaLS does not pick up the _G[name] = class_table statements. Has anyone a clue why it does not?

So this is still needed to make the class and constructor function visible:

---@class Base
---@operator call: Base
Base = {}
class "Base"

---@class Derived: Base
---@operator call: Derived
Derived = {}
class "Derived" (Base)

Ideally it would be just:

---@class Derived: Base
class "Derived" (Base)

[emuell]

Ended up in writing a simple plugin for this, which automatically adds:

---@class Derived: Base
Derived = {}

for statements like:

class "Derived" (Base)

The plugin is here: https://github.com/renoise/definitions/blob/main/plugin.lua
String matching isn't perfect, e.g. won't work in multi line comments, but maybe is a good start.