zend - make a variable global from a routed URL - zend-framework

Question

I'm still experimenting with URL routes and just managed to get it to work.
my routes.ini has this:
[production]
routes.register.route = :lang/register
routes.register.defaults.controller = register
routes.register.defaults.action = index
routes.register.defaults.lang = en
routes.register.reqs.lang = "[a-z]{2}"
My URL would look like this:
http://www.mysite.com/en/register
So now, in my controller I can do this:
$lang = $request->getParam('lang');
My problem is: I'm trying to get a list of countries in a select element, which depending if the lang element is english or french, will return the countries in said language.
To do so, I would need to pass "lang" to the form.
Then in the form, pass it to the model querying the countries there.
And if there's a change, it makes for a lot of places to change as well.
So back to the question:
Can I just set this variable as global?

Answer 1

I would pass the variable to the form from your controller.
// Controller action
public function formAction()
{
$lang = $this->getParam('lang');
$form = new My_Form_Xyz($lang);
$this->view->form = $form;
}
// My_Form_Xyz
protected $lang;
public function __construct($lang)
{
$this->lang = $lang;
parent::__construct();
}
public function init()
{
switch ($this->lang) {
case 'en':
$selectOptions = array();
break;
case 'klingon':
$selectOptions = array();
break;
}
}

Answer 2

Injecting via form setter (as suggested by ArneRie) is better solution. But in case you don't have a discrete form class, or you generate the form from ini file, you can access the parameter like this anywhere after $front->dispatch() in your bootstrap
Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance()->getRequest()->getParam('lang');