Correct way to add Liquid attributes to a page from a plugin?

[IQAndreas]

This doesn't seem to be covered in the plugin documentation, what is the "correct" way to generate and add Liquid properties to a page from a plugin?

I have only found two examples, and both use this technique:

class Jekyll::Post
        alias :to_liquid_without_comments :to_liquid

        def to_liquid
                data = to_liquid_without_comments
                data['comments'] = StaticComments::find_for_post(self)
                data['comment_count'] = data['comments'].length
                data
        end
end

But as an AS3/Java developer, that sort of code disgusts me. In addition, the example code I provided is not compatible with Octopress which I'm guessing either overrides the to_liquid method itself, or uses an older version of Jekyll.

[parkr]

No better way at the moment. We want to add hooks ( #1414 ) but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[IQAndreas]

Bummer, but I'm glad the hooks are on the way.

If you use StackOverflow, feel free to post your answer here and collect the bounty (there are only a few hours left, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste): http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19320448/add-properties-to-a-page-from-a-jekyll-plugin

[parkr]

@IQAndreas http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19320448/add-properties-to-a-page-from-a-jekyll-plugin/19481111#19481111

[parkr]

mpalmer/jekyll-static-comments#15