I decided to find where in the code the error was coming from and make it work like it used to. My solution (and it may not be optimal as I didn't dig that deeply) is as follows:

1) Edit smarty/libs/sysplugins/smarty_internal_data.php and change the getVariable() function to:

    /**
     * gets the object of a Smarty variable
     * 
     * @param string $variable the name of the Smarty variable
     * @param object $_ptr optional pointer to data object
     * @param boolean $search_parents search also in parent data
     * @return object the object of the variable
     */
    public function getVariable($_variable, $_ptr = null, $search_parents = true, $error_enable = true)
    {
        if ($_ptr === null) {
            $_ptr = $this;
        } while ($_ptr !== null) {
            if (isset($_ptr->tpl_vars[$_variable])) {
                // found it, return it
                return $_ptr->tpl_vars[$_variable];
            } 
            // not found, try at parent
            if ($search_parents) {
                $_ptr = $_ptr->parent;
            } else {
                $_ptr = null;
            } 
        } 
        if (isset(Smarty::$global_tpl_vars[$_variable])) {
            // found it, return it
            return Smarty::$global_tpl_vars[$_variable];
        } 
        if ($this->smarty->error_unassigned && $error_enable) {
            throw new SmartyException('Undefined Smarty variable "' . $_variable . '"');
        } else {
			if (! $this->smarty->error_unassigned) {
            	return new Smarty_variable(null, false);
			} else {
        		if ($error_enable) {
					// force a notice
					$x = $$_variable;
        		}
            	return new Undefined_Smarty_Variable;
        	} 
        } 
    }

2) Now in your code, before calling the template, add this line:

  $smarty->error_unassigned = false; 

This assumes your instance of Smarty is called $smarty. The beauty of this method is that you don't have to turn off ALL error messages just to suppress the missing var message.

Six hours later (might be a slight exaggeration) I finally found the problem. The culprit was the following line in lib/setup.php:

  raise_memory_limit('96M');    // We should never NEED this much but just in case...

• Fixed a bug when applying the alpha filter for IE5.5 and IE6
• Added code to generate the indexed image (.gif/.png8) when it doesn't exist for browsers that don't support .png images
• Allow conditional statements to be separated using semicolons (the statements used to be required to be on a line by themselves).

To clarify the last bullet, I will give an example of the old syntax (which still works):

    body
    {
        color: #000;
        if ($_GET[‘theme’] == ‘blue’)
            background‐color: #03C;
        else
            background‐color: #CCC;
        endif
    }

 Now can be written on a single line:

    body {
        color: #000;
        if ($_GET[‘theme’] == ‘blue’); background‐color: #03C; else; background‐color: #CCC; endif;
    }

You can download the latest version here.

The other nice thing about open source is, well, you get the source. Being a hands on type of programmer I get suspicious of "black box" solutions. I always suspect there is some programming bug lurking in there waiting to rise up and bite me. When my program isn't working is it because I did something wrong or am I hitting one of those nasty bugs in a vendor's package? I have done my share of "alpha testing" of a vendor's supposedly "production" code. Of course the burden of proof is always on you. Create your simple test case showing the bug and wait on the tech support hotline listening to Kenny G for hours only to end up talking to someone who just joined the company a week ago. I would much rather have all the code in front of me to dive in and fix whatever problem arises.

Ok, so now you are probably thinking "What's the problem"? The basic issue is that Open Source projects are also free. Believe me I love free. I am addicted to free. And therein lies the problem. There is so much Open Source code out there - and a lot of it really good quality, that people think all code should be free. The idea that I may want to charge for my time programming puts me into the greedy money grubbing capatilist ranks of Bill Gates. To see an extreme example of this sentiment, watch the movie "Antitrust" where an evil Tim Robbins resorts to murder to protect his investment in code. The message from the movie is "all code should be free"! So instead, many programmers decide to give away their code and add a "donate" button in hopes someone will realize the time and effort they put into developing the code and will compensate them for their time. Forget the fact you have bills to pay and mouths to feed.

This article is more of an expression of my frustration at how devalued programming skills have become. I guess this may be payback for the years of excessive fees paid to average or below average consultants. I have no great solution to this issue. I see some open soure projects have been adopting different approaches like "free for the basic functionality and then pay for either services or additional functionality". Time will tell approach works best. 

Credit must be given to Csongor Zalatnai of Hungary for creating the original class.

• Fixes a silent failure when an included css file did not exist.
• Allows overriding of the state variables using parameters on the CSS Url.
• Fixed a bug where @include statements ignored the if block they were in.

You can download version 1.1 here.