Your solution looks quite good. :)

About the 3d-array-problem: Even in your code the template itself does not decide how many cols to display. You're doing this in your PHP script. So IMO there is no difference between telling patTemplate to start a new row or building an array with the right number of cols. In both cases there is no logic neither in patTemplate Templates nor in PHPTAL Templates. They just display, what you tell them via PHP.

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