parse_variables multidimentional empty array?

Question

I have a template tag that uses $this->EE->TMPL->parse_variables() to create a single item with an array of [items].

Array ( ... [accessRole] => reader [items] => Array ( ) ... )

What should the parsed variables look like if it's empty and what should be it's corresponding template tag if I want to do something different when there are no [items]?

An empty array doesn't seem to work (as shown above) when do {if items} or {if "{items}" == ""}.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

This is not intuitive at all, but you need an array containing an empty array:

$variables = array(
  array(
    'accessRole' => 1,
    'items' => array(array()),
  ),
);

return ee()->TMPL->parse_variables(ee()->TMPL->tagdata, $variables);

Answer 2

Upon closer inspection, the conditionals parser does not deal with arrays properly. I think the only thing you can do is use a separate variable to use with conditionals.

// {if items_count > 0}
'items_count' => count($items),

// OR

// {if has_items}
'has_items' => count($items) > 0,

Answer 3

I found setting the array to "" seemed to work. Albeit screwy.

Something like could be done programmatically:

if (is_array($variables['items'] AND empty($variables['items'])) $variables['items'] = ""

for instance.