[kh99]

OK, this works for me: I have a plugin using hook process_templates_complete with this code (should be same as posted above):

$templater = vB_Template::create('CVR4_searchprofile');  
$templater->register('notifications_menubits', $notifications_menubits);  
$CVR4_searchprofile = $templater->render();  

// but use preRegister() here because you won't have a chance to call 
// register() for the navbar template 
vB_Template::preRegister('navbar', array('CVR4_searchprofile' => $CVR4_searchprofile));

Then I created a new CVR4_searchprofile template like this:

<vb:if condition="$show[notifications]">
Show Notifications:
{vb:raw notifications_menubits}
<vb:else />
Don't Show Notifications
</vb:if>

and then I put {vb:raw CVR4_searchprofile} in my navbar template. And it looks like this:

Attachment 136887