Craft 2 - Returning Value in Variable from Plugin to Template

Question

I am working with a plugin and wish to return a value from it to the template that calls it. In my plugin, there is an XML feed call, and I would like to pass a value(variable) from the plugin to the template that indicates whether there is any value for a particular XML query.

I currently am working with a Plugin Variable, which returns the XML output.
How would I be able to return a second value to the template for a conditional 'display/don't display' value? Would I need to set up a second class, apart from my main XML feed variable?

Thanks.

Here is the basic layout of the plugin:

XmlFeedVariable.php

<?php
namespace Craft;

class AiPaginationTestVariable
{
        public function AiPaginationTestVariable($optional = null)
        //the '$optional' in the function call passes to the xml call for the query
            {
            //performs XML call and string assembly here, then echo's to output
            //if there is no xml returned, I would like to do this:
            //$xml_return='no';
            //then have the template pick it up.
            }
}

Answer 1

You're close, you don't necessarily need another class or function. Though you may want to change the function name to be a bit more clear, and you may want to move the heavy XML logic into a separate private method.

class AiPaginationTestVariable
{
        public function getXml($params = null)
        {
            // Compile XML
            $xml = $this->_compileXml($params);

            // Return XML or false
            if ($xml) {
                return $xml;
            } else {
                return false;
            }
        }

        private function _compileXml($params = null)
        {
            // Whatever it takes to compile XML
        }
}

Then in your Twig template, you can do something like this...

{% set xml = craft.aiPaginationTest.getXml() %}

{% if false == xml %}
    {# Handle no XML #}
{% endif %}

This might not directly answer your question, but I hope it's enough to get you back on track.