Re: [xsl] how to test the existence of a file on the hard disk ?

[David Carlisle <davidc at nag dot co dot uk>]

> Is it possible with XSL ?

Not in general.

if you use document() on a file that isn't there, then a system is
_allowed_ to return an empty node set, and if it does this you can test
for that with xsl:if. Unfortunately though it is also allowed to stop
with an error. Some systems (eg saxon) have flags that allow you to
control the behaviour on errors like this where the recommendation
allows a recovery. If your system returns an empty node set then
you are OK. If your system always gives an error then you need to either
use some extension function or use a special URI resolver that returns
some special XML file in the case of missing files, so that you can
always get something back with document() and then test if it is the
special 2missing file" document.

David

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