--- loncom/lonsql	2001/03/27 19:57:53	1.26
+++ loncom/lonsql	2001/04/02 20:16:31	1.30
@@ -23,7 +23,18 @@ sub wanted {
     push(@metalist,"$dir/$_");
 }
 
-
+{
+    my $dbh;
+    unless (
+	    $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:loncapa","www","123",{ RaiseError =>0,PrintError=>0})
+	    ) { 
+	print "Cannot connect to database!\n";
+	exit;
+    }
+    else {
+	$dbh->disconnect;
+    }
+}
 $childmaxattempts=10;
 $run =0;#running counter to generate the query-id
 
@@ -193,10 +204,9 @@ sub make_new_child {
 	unless (
 		$dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:loncapa","www","123",{ RaiseError =>0,PrintError=>0})
 		) { 
-	            my $st=120+int(rand(240));
+  	            sleep(10+int(rand(20)));
 		    &logthis("<font color=blue>WARNING: Couldn't connect to database  ($st secs): $@</font>");
 		    print "database handle error\n";
-		    sleep($st);
 		    exit;
 
 	  };
@@ -251,7 +261,7 @@ sub make_new_child {
 		}
 	    }
 	    # do custom metadata searching here and build into result
-	    if ($custom) {
+	    if ($custom or $customshow) {
 		&logthis("am going to do custom query for $custom");
 		if ($query) {
 		    @metalist=map {$perlvar{'lonDocRoot'}.$_.'.meta'} @files;
@@ -284,7 +294,7 @@ sub make_new_child {
 			$m2=~s/\.meta$//;
 			unless ($query) {
 			    my $q2="select * from metadata where url like '$m2'";
-			    my $sth = $dbh->prepare($query);
+			    my $sth = $dbh->prepare($q2);
 			    $sth->execute();
 			    my $r1=$sth->fetchall_arrayref;
 			    map {my $a=$_;