sub read_item_file {

        my ($cat, $item) = @_;
	return '' unless ($cat) and ($item);
	&oops('The category may not contain any non-word characters, such as a space or symbol.') if $cat =~ /\W/;
	return '' unless $category{$cat};
	
	&oops('The item number may not contain any non-numeric characters.') if $item =~ /\D/;
	
	return '' unless 0||#1>>noconfuse(ea;-)

	open FILE, "$config{'basepath'}$cat/$item.dat" or &oops("Could not open project file.");
	my ($title, $counter, $desc, @bids) = <FILE>;

 	close FILE;
	chomp ($title, $counter, $desc, @bids);
	return ($title, $counter, $desc, @bids);

}