Pass a variable into a content template, to set item classes?

Have you read: https://docs.grabaperch.com/docs/templates/passing-variables-into-templates/

You could do

<?php 
    PerchSystem::set_var('position', 'left-cta');
    perch_content_custom('Region Name', array(
        'template'=>'template.html'
    ));
?>

Then put the id position into your template

I did look that page over and haven't been able to have any luck with it.

I wonder if the issue is that I'm trying to have two different values for the same variable at the same time?

For the first call to action button the variable "btn-class" is being set to "left-cta". In the second instance, for the second call to action button the variable "btn-class" is being set to "right-cta". Is it possible to do this or can I only setup one value for the variable on the page?

The current behavior is that text being displayed is the variable label "btn-class". Neither of the values for the variable are showing up at all. I'm not sure why this is.

So I'm unsure of where to proceed from here. Thanks to anyone that can help me sort through this. :)

Code that's in my page:

 <div class="medium-6 columns">
           <?php 
           PerchSystem::set_var('btn-class', 'left-cta');
           perch_content_custom('Call to Action Button Left', array(
            'template'=>'home_call_to_action_button.html'
            ));
            ?>
          </div>
        </div>
        <div class="smallfullimg">
          <div class="medium-6 columns">
            <?php 
            PerchSystem::set_var('button-class', 'right-cta');
            perch_content_custom('Call to Action Button Right', array(
              'template'=>'home_call_to_action_button.html'
              ));
              ?>
            </div>

Code that's in my html content template:

<a href="<perch:content id="home-cta-link" type="text" label="Link for Button" help="This is the address to where you want the button to to lead to when you click it. Make sure to include the &ldquo;https:www.&rdquo; so that the links work correctly."/>" 

class="btn-class">

<span class="title-1"><perch:content id="home-cta-title-1" title="true" type="text" label="Line 1" help="Enter the text that you wish to appear in the first line of text on the call to action on the home page." /></span>

<span class="title-2"><perch:content id="home-cta-title-2" type="text" label="Line 2" help="Enter the text that you wish to appear in the second line of text on the call to action on the home page." /></span></a>

Drew thanks for the pointers. Obviously, I wasn't understanding how this works. :) After revisiting the documentation (again), I think I finally got it—so thank you for your patience.

I noticed that a field for the content tag containing the variable kept showing up in the edit area along with the fields for the other perch:content tags. I had to change the content tag containing the variable to type="hidden". Is that the correct way to do it if I simply wan to pass through the variable?