RE: [xsl] saxon command line error "2>error.txt"

Subject: RE: [xsl] saxon command line error "2>error.txt"
From: "Michael Kay" <mhk@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 15:49:22 +0100
> Michael,
> I re-checked and both e-mails suggesting this redirect are yours.
> 
> http://www.geocrawler.com/mail/msg_raw.php3?msg_id=9920530
> http://www.biglist.com/lists/xsl-list/archives/200312/msg00276.html
> 
> I had a suspicion that the syntax was for the OS. But the error I
> receive is gives the SAXON options for the commandline.

Yes. If the OS doesn't recognize 2>error.txt then it's going to assume that
it means something to the application (Saxon), so it will hand it over to
Saxon, which won't know what to do with it.
> 
> It just struck me as odd that I found no option that was able to
> direct the errors to a file. I thought I must be doing something
> wrong or have misunderstood the options (where to place the syntax).

I'm surprised too. Every other OS that I know provides this option. 
> 
> James Clark's SP has an option that outputs an error file (-f), why
> can't SAXON have one? Why depend on the OS, when you can write in an
> option?

It doesn't seem worth adding something to Saxon if it's needed only on
Win95.
> 
> My second thought was that, if I have to deal with the OS, maybe I
> could capture the output in the window to an error.txt file. Thus, I
> ask concerning an alternative syntax for the command line.

The primary interface to Saxon is the Java API. The command line aims to
provide a user interface that gives access to most of the functionality. It
will never do everything that you can do via the API. If there's a feature
in the product that you can't get from the command line, you can always
implement your own command line (or GUI) interface.
> 
> I don't understand the relevancy of your statements concerning
> documentation.
> 
Fortunately another user knew about this restriction in Win95. I don't know
where he got the information. I was not able to give you the information
myself because I've never found any decent documentation of the Windows/DOS
command line syntax.

Michael Kay

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