An ugly viewHelper to get a record from the database ...

GetRecordAsViewHelper.php

<?php

namespace Vendor\Extension\ViewHelpers;

use TYPO3\CMS\Fluid\Core\ViewHelper\AbstractViewHelper;

class GetRecordAsViewHelper extends AbstractViewHelper {

	/**
	 * @param string $table
	 * @param integer $uid
	 * @param string $as
	 * @return string
	 */
	public function render($table, $uid, $as) {
		try {
			$record = $this->getDb()->exec_SELECTgetSingleRow(
				'*',
				$table,
				'uid=' . (int)$uid
			);
			$this->templateVariableContainer->add($as, $record);
			$buffer = $this->renderChildren();
			$this->templateVariableContainer->remove($as);
			return $buffer;
		} catch(\Exception $e) {
			return $e->getMessage();
		}
	}

	/**
	 * @return \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Database\DatabaseConnection
	 */
	protected function getDb() {
		return $GLOBALS['TYPO3_DB'];
	}
}