How to pass variables between theme functions

Question

I often use functions that contain variables in the following files:

• Template.php
• Custom Panels Style Plugins
• node.tpl.php files
• field.tpl.php files
• views.tpl.php files

I often needed to pass variables between these functions.

At the moment, I do this by declaring my variable as a global Using PHP's global command. However, I have read that is not best practice. Is there a better way?

I know that Drupal has variable_set() and variable_get(). However, apparently these have similar problems to using Globals for lots of little variables.

Answer 1

I am newish to Drupal, but will give this a shot (I'm sure someone will tell me if I am wrong).

You can set variables that exist in different contexts by using the template.php file of your theme by adding stuff to the $variables array with preprocessor functions. So you could maybe add your variables to the YOURTHEME_preprocess_html() function, which should make them available everywhere.

function YOURTHEME_preprocess_html(&$variables, $hook) {
  $variables['sample_variable'] = t('Lorem ipsum.');
}

Answer 2

What about hook_preprocess? This hook called for all templates.

Answer 3

You probably need some settings, so using variable_set is a normal practice I think.