Currently the template operator 'attribute' only works with arrays and objects. I have enhanced it a bit so it can deal with scalar variables as well. Also it displays a message if a variable is NULL as at the moment there is no difference in the display of an empty array or a null value.

Installation

As I don't have a good patch utility available I recommend the following:
Just copy the folder patches to your eZ root directory and add the following lines to the beginning of your index.php to enable the patch:

$path = 'patches';
  set_include_path($path . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());

Usage

Same as the normal attribute operator.