TYPO3 Core

To be clear: I would support to introduce the requirement to use `initializeArguments()` but for other reasons:

We can add the render method and the initializeArguments methods to the interface with the following benefits:

• Clearer API (only one style to do things)
• It is a much clearer contract for VH authors
• It reduces runtime magic resoliving

To make this reality the following things need to be done:

1. Change all core VHs
2. Deprecate render methods with arguments (with target for removal in 9)

There are other benefits than being able to subclass the ViewHelpers. For example, avoiding the reflection framework and becoming a better Fluid citizen (not requiring special execution handling to support render method arguments).

As such, the topic of this discussion should not be "should be allow subclassing ViewHelpers" but rather "should we move argument registrations to avoid reflection and executions only supported on TYPO3 CMS". Whether or not we should even allow subclassing ViewHelpers should be another discussion.

To make this reality the following things need to be done:

Yes, that is what I intend to do.

I would like to add here that we can actually scrap the render() method completely. It's not needed. If renderStatic exists, and it always does, that method can be called directly.