toReference() inside chains

There is one extremely useful and not-so widely known toReference() method. It saves actually matched elements inside variable, by reference (as the name says). It can be used to target such cases as:

1. Preserving chain

// declare our variables (this is VERY important)
$deepClass = $section = null;
$template['div.main div.otherclass .deep-class:first']
  ->toReference($deepClass)
//  ->...  // do something
  ->find('.section')
    ->toReference($section)
//  ->...  // do something
  ->end()
  ->next()
    // highlighter but; only one empty()
    ->empty()
    ->append($deepClass->contents())
    ->eq(0)->add($section)->eq(1)
//      ->...  // do something, stack is [$section]
    ->end()->end()->end()
//      ->...  // stack is same as after ->next()
;

2. Splitting chains

// declare our variables (this is VERY important)
$row = $titleBody = null;
$template
  ->find('ul:first > li')
    ->loopOne('posts', 'postNum', 'r')
      // add dynamic class
      ->addClassPHP('if (! $postNum) print "first"')
      ->find('> .title, > .body')
        ->varsToStack('r["Post"]', $postFields)
        // save our $titleBody variable
        ->toReference($titleBody)
      ->end()
      // save our $row variable
      ->toReference($row)
//    ->...  // lots of code ;)
;
// just continue your work
$row->find('h3:first, .comments')
// ->...
;
// anywhere...
doSomethingOnFields($titleBody);

In SVN version of QueryTemplates there is a fix for cache issue. The workaround for beta2 is to do “if ($ref)” before, or turning off the cache with “$cacheTimeout = -1″.