Template parser and form helper problem

[eluser]esthonwood[/eluser]
[quote author="Aken" date="1343182458"]What do you mean? Based on your described solution, it would be exactly the same thing. All form_dropdown() does is return a string, exactly like the function you created.[/quote]

You know what, you're right. I just want my views variables to be in this format: {variable_name} but as you can see, I have used the set_value() function which defeats the purpose. I guess the CI template parser cannot yet be used for the purpose I have intended.