About sampler I’ll check, could well be spreadable, no reason why not. I’ll try to get it sorted for next beta release.
For technique (since it got mentioned), it’s not spreadable (of course) for a reason, main one being that you can set macros in patch. In texture FX they should tho, since in that case it doesn’t apply.
Also it makes logic bloated (due to layout validation), and is not future proof (for few bits which are still in progress).
To share variables between shaders and not make a mess of a patch, much cleaner options are available eg: render semantics.