@@ -51,16 +51,32 @@
 ;;       (("ANIMAL" "Elephant") ("SEASON" "Fall")) 
 ;;       (("ANIMAL" "Lion")     ("SEASON" "Spring"))
 ;;       (("ANIMAL" "Lion")     ("SEASON" "Fall")))
 (define (item-assoc->item-list itemsdat)
   (if (and itemsdat (not (null? itemsdat)))
-      (let ((itemlst (map (lambda (x)
-			    (let ((name (car x))
-				  (items (cadr x)))
-			      (list name (string-split items))))
-			  itemsdat)))
-	(process-itemlist #f '() itemlst))
+      (let ((itemlst (filter (lambda (x)
+			       (list? x))
+			     (map (lambda (x)
+				    (debug:print 6 "item-assoc->item-list x: " x)
+				    (if (< (length x) 2)
+					(begin
+					  (debug:print 0 "ERROR: malformed items spec " (string-intersperse x " "))
+					  (list (car x)'()))
+					(let ((name (car x))
+					      (items (cadr x)))
+					  (list name (string-split items)))))
+				  itemsdat))))
+	(let ((debuglevel 5))
+	  (debug:print 5 "item-assoc->item-list: itemsdat => itemlst ")
+	  (if (>= *verbosity* 5)
+	      (begin
+		(pp itemsdat)
+		(print " => ")
+		(pp itemlst))))
+	(if (> (length itemlst) 0)
+	    (process-itemlist #f '() itemlst)
+	    '()))
       '())) ;; return a list consisting on a single null list for non-item runs
             ;; Nope, not now, return null as of 6/6/2011
 
 ;; (item-table->item-list '(("ANIMAL" "Elephant Lion")("SEASON" "Spring Winter")))
 ;;   => ((("ANIMAL" "Elephant")("SEASON" "Spring"))
@@ -68,11 +84,11 @@
 (define (item-table->item-list itemtable)
   (let ((newlst (map (lambda (x)
 		       (if (> (length x) 1)
 			   (list (car x)
 				 (string-split (cadr x)))
-			   x))
+			   (list x '())))
 		     itemtable))
 	(res     '())) ;; a list of items
     (let loop ((indx    0)
 	       (item   '()) ;; an item will be ((KEYNAME1 VAL1)(KEYNAME2 VAL2) ...)
 	       (elflag  #f))