RE: Scalar -> node-set conversion (was How to distinguish b/n

[Dimitre Novatchev <dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mike Kay wrote:
>> Dmitre wrote:
>> 
>> > This is a good idea and it actually works in MSXML 3:
>> >
>> > count(node-set(nodeSet) | node-set(nodeSet)) returns 1.  
>> > count(node-set(Scalar) | node-set(Scalar)) returns 2.  
>> >
>> > Unfortunately, Saxon always returns 1.
>
>Actually, I'm getting the answer 2 when I run this in Saxon. Though I 
don't
>think this is a particularly good thing: in principle, running the
same
>function twice with the same argument should produce the same result;
>otherwise optimizations are likely to go wrong.
>> >
>> > Also, I've heard that the standard node-set() function in 
>> XSLT 1.1 will throw error when passed a scalar argument.
>
>It is currently proposed that RTF->nodeset conversion should be 
>implicit in
>XSLT 1.1, but there has been no proposal to allow string->nodeset
>conversion.
>
>Mike Kay
>> 

I got these results running Saxon 5.4.

Anyway, it appears that there isn't a reliable way of finding whether a
parameter is a node-set or a scalar -- it's a pity, because something
as simple as a function (defined over a nodeset like count()) returning
NaN for a scalar would do the job.

As of now one has to depend on the error number -- even on the exact
error message text from a particular vendor of an XSLT processor.

Dimitre.
 

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