--- loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2003/01/10 21:13:00	1.317
+++ loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2003/01/31 22:39:10	1.322
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # The LearningOnline Network
 # TCP networking package
 #
-# $Id: lonnet.pm,v 1.317 2003/01/10 21:13:00 www Exp $
+# $Id: lonnet.pm,v 1.322 2003/01/31 22:39:10 albertel Exp $
 #
 # Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees
 #
@@ -1744,6 +1744,57 @@ sub dump {
    return %returnhash;
 }
 
+# --------------------------------------------------------------- currentdump
+sub currentdump {
+   my ($namespace,$udomain,$uname)=@_;
+   if (!$udomain) { $udomain = $ENV{'user.domain'}; }
+   if (!$uname)   { $uname   = $ENV{'user.name'};   }
+   my $uhome = &homeserver($uname,$udomain);
+   my $rep=reply("currentdump:$udomain:$uname:$namespace",$uhome);
+   return if ($rep =~ /^(error:|no_such_host)/);
+   #
+   my %returnhash=();
+   #
+   if ($rep eq "unknown_cmd") { 
+       # an old lond will not know currentdump
+       # Do a dump and make it look like a currentdump
+       my @tmp = &dump($namespace,$udomain,$uname,'.');
+       return if ($tmp[0] =~ /^(error:|no_such_host)/);
+       my %hash = @tmp;
+       @tmp=();
+       # Code ripped from lond, essentially.  The only difference
+       # here is the unescaping done by lonnet::dump().  Conceivably
+       # we might run in to problems with parameter names =~ /^v\./
+       while (my ($key,$value) = each(%hash)) {
+           my ($v,$symb,$param) = split(/:/,$key);
+           next if ($v eq 'version' || $symb eq 'keys');
+           next if (exists($returnhash{$symb}) &&
+                    exists($returnhash{$symb}->{$param}) &&
+                    $returnhash{$symb}->{'v.'.$param} > $v);
+           $returnhash{$symb}->{$param}=$value;
+           $returnhash{$symb}->{'v.'.$param}=$v;
+       }
+       #
+       # Remove all of the keys in the hashes which keep track of
+       # the version of the parameter.
+       while (my ($symb,$param_hash) = each(%returnhash)) {
+           # use a foreach because we are going to delete from the hash.
+           foreach my $key (keys(%$param_hash)) {
+               delete($param_hash->{$key}) if ($key =~ /^v\./);
+           }
+       }
+   } else {
+       my @pairs=split(/\&/,$rep);
+       foreach (@pairs) {
+           my ($key,$value)=split(/=/,$_);
+           my ($symb,$param) = split(/:/,$key);
+           $returnhash{&unescape($symb)}->{&unescape($param)} = 
+                                                          &unescape($value);
+       }
+   }
+   return %returnhash;
+}
+
 # --------------------------------------------------------------- put interface
 
 sub put {
@@ -2766,14 +2817,14 @@ sub EXT {
     } else {
 	$courseid=$ENV{'request.course.id'};
     }
-
     my ($realm,$space,$qualifier,@therest)=split(/\./,$varname);
     my $rest;
-    if ($therest[0]) {
+    if (defined($therest[0])) {
        $rest=join('.',@therest);
     } else {
        $rest='';
     }
+
     my $qualifierrest=$qualifier;
     if ($rest) { $qualifierrest.='.'.$rest; }
     my $spacequalifierrest=$space;
@@ -3034,9 +3085,12 @@ sub metadata {
                       my $unikey='parameter'.$keyroot.'_'.$name;
                       $metathesekeys{$unikey}=1;
                       $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.part'}=$part;
-                      unless 
-                       (defined($metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.'.$subp})) {
-                         $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.'.$subp}=$value;
+                      unless (defined($metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.'.$subp})) {
+			  $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.'.$subp}=$value;
+		      }
+		      if (defined($metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.default'})) {
+			  $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=
+			     $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.default'}
 		      }
                   }
               }
@@ -3086,11 +3140,17 @@ sub metadata {
               foreach (@{$token->[3]}) {
 		  $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.'.$_}=$token->[2]->{$_};
               }
-              unless (
-                 $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=&HTML::Entities::decode($parser->get_text('/'.$entry))
-		      ) { $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=
-			      $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.default'};
-		      }
+	      my $internaltext=&HTML::Entities::decode($parser->get_text('/'.$entry));
+	      my $default=$metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.default'};
+	      if ( $internaltext =~ /^\s*$/ && $default !~ /^\s*$/) {
+		  # only ws inside the tag, and not in default, so use default
+                  # as value
+		  $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=$default;
+	      } else {
+		  # either something interesting inside the tag or default
+                  # uninteresting
+		  $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=$internaltext;
+	      }
 # end of not-a-package not-a-library import
 	   }
 # end of not-a-package start tag