Adding variables to the page template

I wanted to add a single variable to the page object and make it available to the templates. However since the Template object is declared as protected I cannot add the variable in the GeneratePage hook.

The hook is implemented in PageRegular.php line 82: $GLOBALS['TL_HOOKS']['generatePage']

I tried:

Code:

---

class Subtitle
{
        public function onGeneratePage(Database_Result $objPage, Database_Result $objLayout, PageRegular $objPageRegular)
        {
                $objPageRegular->Template->subTitle = $objPage->subTitle;
        }
}

---

but that generates the errormessage:
Fatal error: Cannot access protected property PageRegular::$Template in C:\xampp\htdocs\domainname.com\system\modules\subt itle\Subtitle.php on line 7 (that is inside the function).

Is there another method to get what I want?

In the meantime I edited the core to just include that one line of the function; problem diverted. I dislike the protected and private statements...

I've run into this before. Try:

Code:

---

<?php global $objPage; echo $objPage->subtitle; ?>

---

in your fe_ template. It's quick and dirty...

Great! Well, dirty but functional.

Have you placed a ticket for this (feature request)? I'd like to know if this might be changed. Otherwise I'll request it and see how far it gets....

Forgive my n00biness...I'm learning... :)

But what if your Subtitle class extended Template? Could you access protected properties and methods then?

Derp. Yeah, good call, Medianomaly. I would actually just make it extend Frontend and it should then work fine. :D

Ah -- cool. Thanks for the info.

This seems like it would be a REALLY valuable piece of info. Perhaps something for the factory? :)

Yep, this indeed works as suggested!

One little thing though; I've never used the protected visibility myself because I'm not sure what the advantage is. Can someone show me an example when this is beneficial? (The advantage of a private visibility I can see from the point of view of whoever builds the class)