global scope variable

ad_dialogs.tpl.php

<?php
    if(!empty($social_dialog)): //Step 4: Ok, was anything generated during that pages/element loop?
        echo $social_dialog; //print out the html string generated if so...
    endif;
?>

ad_footer.tpl.php

<?php 

//note: ad_footer.tpl.php called on last line of ad_main.tpl.php


include 'ad_dialogs.tpl.php'; //Step 3: Ok lets check out that var now...

//unrelated code follows

?>

element_footer_nav.tpl.php

<div data-role="footer" class="nav-glyphish-example mobile-footer-nav">
    <div data-role="navbar" id="bottom-nav">
        <ul>
        <?php
        
            foreach($element['content'] as $key=>$value):
                if($key == "share"): ?>
                <li>
                    <a href="#share_dialog" id="share" data-icon="custom">Share</a>
                </li> 
            <?php 
                $social_dialog = createSharingDialog($value); //Step 1: Call Dialog Creation Helper
                endif;
            
                //unrelated code follows

            endforeach; ?>
        
        </ul>
    </div>				
</div>

helpers.php

<?php

function createSharingDialog($services) //Step 2: Build the dialog and save it to a var for later use
{   
    $social_dialog  = "<div data-role='dialog' id='share_dialog'>";
    $social_dialog .= "<div data-role='header'><h2>Share</h2></div>";
    $social_dialog .= "<div data-role='content'>";

    foreach($services as $item):
        $social_dialog .= buildSharingLink($item);
    endforeach;

    $social_dialog  .= "</div>";
    $social_dialog  .= "</div>";
    
    return $social_dialog;
}

?>