--- loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2000/12/06 20:32:52	1.77
+++ loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2000/12/12 21:32:46	1.78
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@
 # 10/06,10/09,10/10,10/11,10/14,10/20,10/23,10/25,10/26,10/27,10/28,10/29, 
 # 10/30,10/31,
 # 11/2,11/14,11/15,11/16,11/20,11/21,11/22,11/25,11/27,
-# 12/02 Gerd Kortemeyer
+# 12/02,12/12 Gerd Kortemeyer
 
 package Apache::lonnet;
 
@@ -1461,8 +1461,12 @@ sub EXT {
      
 # --------------------------------------------- last, look in resource metadata
 
+      $spacequalifierrest=~s/\./\_/;
       my $metadata=&metadata($ENV{'request.filename'},$spacequalifierrest);
       if ($metadata) { return $metadata; }
+      $metadata=&metadata($ENV{'request.filename'},
+                                         'parameter_'.$spacequalifierrest);
+      if ($metadata) { return $metadata; }
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------- Any other user namespace
     } elsif ($realm eq 'environment') {
@@ -1481,6 +1485,7 @@ sub EXT {
 
 sub metadata {
     my ($uri,$what)=@_;
+
     $uri=&declutter($uri);
     my $filename=$uri;
     $uri=~s/\.meta$//;
@@ -1507,7 +1512,11 @@ sub metadata {
               map {
 		  $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.'.$_}=$token->[2]->{$_};
               } @{$token->[3]};
-              $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=$parser->get_text('/'.$entry);
+              unless (
+                 $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=$parser->get_text('/'.$entry)
+		      ) { $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey}=
+			      $metacache{$uri.':'.$unikey.'.default'};
+		      }
           }
        }
     }