Index: /trunk/psLib/src/types/psMetadataItemParse.c
===================================================================
--- /trunk/psLib/src/types/psMetadataItemParse.c	(revision 8256)
+++ /trunk/psLib/src/types/psMetadataItemParse.c	(revision 8257)
@@ -255,5 +255,5 @@
                                   )
 {
-    PS_ASSERT_PTR_NON_NULL(item, psStringCopy(""));
+    PS_ASSERT_PTR_NON_NULL(item, NULL);
 
     switch (item->type) {
@@ -271,8 +271,10 @@
 
     default:
-        psError(PS_ERR_BAD_PARAMETER_TYPE, true, "Item %s (%s) is not of string type (%x) --- treating as "
+        psError(PS_ERR_BAD_PARAMETER_TYPE, true,
+                "Item %s (%s) is not of string type (%x) --- treating as "
                 "undefined.\n", item->name, item->comment, item->type);
-        return psStringCopy("");
-    }
-}
-
+        //        return psStringCopy("");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+}
+
Index: /trunk/psLib/test/types/Makefile.am
===================================================================
--- /trunk/psLib/test/types/Makefile.am	(revision 8256)
+++ /trunk/psLib/test/types/Makefile.am	(revision 8257)
@@ -30,5 +30,6 @@
 	tap_psListIterator \
 	tap_psMetadataConfigParse \
-	tap_psMetadataItemCompare
+	tap_psMetadataItemCompare \
+	tap_psMetadataItemParse
 
 
@@ -65,4 +66,7 @@
 tap_psMetadataItemCompare_CPPFLAGS   = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) -I$(top_srcdir)/test/tap/src
 tap_psMetadataItemCompare_LDFLAGS    = $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(top_builddir)/test/tap/src/libtap.la
+
+tap_psMetadataItemParse_CPPFLAGS   = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) -I$(top_srcdir)/test/tap/src
+tap_psMetadataItemParse_LDFLAGS    = $(AM_LDFLAGS) $(top_builddir)/test/tap/src/libtap.la
 
 check_DATA = \