PERL: Interpolate question

[Handytman@aol.com]

My code (in my flypage) is driving me nuts. :-)

 It's supposed to return the HTML that is defined in the variable $output at 
the beginning, if none of the IF/ELSIF conditions are net. But, when 
conditions aren't met, it returns nothing! (When conditions *are* met, the 
script works like a peach.

I'm very grateful for anyone who will point out to me my dumb mistakes. I 
wonder if I'm not accomodating the manner in which MiniVend interpolates?

TIA, Rob Maurer

[perl interpolate=1]
$output = '';

  $output .= qq(\n\t<td width="50%">) . qq([order [item-code]]);
  $output .= qq([Unable to display image][/order]</td>);
  $output .= qq(\n\t<td width="50%">) . qq([order [item-code]]) . qq([Unable 
to display image]) . qq([/order]) . qq(</td>);
if ((qq([item-field limited]) eq "yes") && ([item-field availablenum] < 1)) {
  $output = '';
  $output .= qq(<td width="50%"><center><strong>);
  $output .= qq();
  $output .= qq(Not available.</strong></center></td>);
  $output .= qq(<td width="50%"><center><strong>);
  $output .= qq();
  $output .= qq(Item is sold.</strong></center></td>);
  }
elsif (qq([item-field limited]) eq "yes") {
  $output .= qq(\n\t</tr><tr><td width="100%" colspan="2">);
  $output .= qq(<center><strong>);
  $output .= "Only " . "[item-field availablenum]" . " available!";
  $output .= qq(</strong></center></td>);
  }

return $output;
[/perl]