As promised, here is our display model (slightly simplified):
<?php
class Display extends Model
{
/*create the array to pass to the views*/
var $data = array();
/*two other class variables*/
var $base;
var $status = '';
/*the constructor function: this calls the 'model' parent class,
loads other CI libraries and helpers it requires, and
dynamically sets variables*/
function Display()
{
parent::Model();
$this->load->helper('form');
$this->load->library('user_agent');
$this->load->library('menu');
$this->load->library('session');
/*now set the standard parts of the array*/
$this->data['css'] = $this->config->item('css');
$this->data['base'] = $this->config->item('base_url');
$this->base = $this->config->item('base_url');
$this->data['myrobots'] = '<meta name="robots"
content="noindex,nofollow">';
/*note that CI's session stuff doesn't automatically recall the
extra variables you have added, so you have to look...