[xsl] handling failed document() invocations

Subject: [xsl] handling failed document() invocations
From: "Jeff Barrett" <JBarrett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 15:05:53 -0800
I have a main XML document that has references to other XML document instances.  These references take the form of an ID number that is used to construct the path to an instance doc.  For example:

<document>
	<item id="14" />
	<item id="94" />
</document>
<!----------------------------->
<xsl:stylesheet>
[...]	
<xsl:variable name="instance-id" select="document/item/@id" />
<xsl:variable name="item-doc" select="document( 'documents/$instance-id/item.xml' )" />
[...]	
</xsl:stylesheet>

The problem is there may not be a document there, which is an OK state of affairs.  What is the xsl code idiom for detecting when document() is unable to find a document at the given location, and to handle this in a more meaningful way than exiting on error?

If it matters I'm using saxon 6.5.2.

thanks,
+jeff

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