Primarily for use when using Zend_View strictVars(), this helper can be used to declare template variables that may or may not already be set in the view object, as well as to set default values. Arrays passed as arguments to the method will be used to set default values; otherwise, if the variable does not exist, it is set to an empty string.

Usage:

$this->declareVars(
    'varName1',
    'varName2',
    array('varName3' => 'defaultValue',
          'varName4' => array()
    )
);