[TYPO3-mvc] Passing filters by array or custom object? Which is the better approach?

[David Schreiber]

Hello Everybody!

I'm trying to realize a listing view of products.

I made a small list.html template and an apropriate action inside my
Product Controller.

The list action looks like this:

/**
 * list action
 * @param $filter array|mixed The filters passed to the list
 * @param $sortBy string The sort criteria
 * @param $count int The Number of commodities to display at one page
 * @param $page int The page to display
 * @return string The rendered list action
*/
public function listAction( $filter=NULL, $sortBy='title', $count=10,
$page=1 ) {
...
...
}

I want the list action to take all the products out of the repository
which match the passed filter criteria (given with $filter).

Now I'm not sure about how to build up my filters the best way. 

First I thought about passing them as a hash-array - but I don't know
how to create arrays inside a fluid template. Is this possible?

Second try would be to create a special class for the Filters, which
stores all filter options, and pass them as an object - would this be
a better solution, or does this create a too big overhead?

How would you realize that?

Thank you,
David Schreiber