--- loncom/homework/templates/sampleexternal.pl	2011/04/29 00:32:11	1.2
+++ loncom/homework/templates/sampleexternal.pl	2012/02/04 15:12:40	1.3
@@ -46,7 +46,11 @@ my $message='';
 foreach my $testcase (split(/\,/,$FORM{'LONCAPA_correct_answer'})) {
    my ($value,$result)=split(/\=/,$testcase);
 # Execute the student code and call the expected function
-   my $studentanswer=$compartment->reval($FORM{'LONCAPA_student_response'}.'&factorial('.$value.')');
+   my $studentanswer=$compartment->reval(
+$FORM{'somecode'}."\n".
+$FORM{'LONCAPA_student_response'}."\n".
+'&factorial('.$value.')'
+);
 # A syntax error occurred
    if ($@) {
       $award='WRONG_FORMAT';
@@ -86,12 +90,15 @@ foreach my $testcase (split(/\,/,$FORM{'
 #
 # For partial correctness, awarddetail needs to be ASSIGNED_SCORE
 # The partial score would be in <awarded>
+# The message is passed as unparsed character data, so embedded HTML
+# or entities do not get parsed by LON-CAPA's internal parser. Remove
+# the CDATA wrapper if you want the parser to process the message.
 #
 
 print (<<ENDOUT);
 <loncapagrade>
     <awarddetail>$award</awarddetail>
-    <message>$message</message>
+    <message><![CDATA[$message]]></message>
     <awarded></awarded>
 </loncapagrade>
 ENDOUT