Multiple file inputs?

Question

Within an XSLT document, is it possible to loop over a set of files in the current directory?

I have a situation where I have a directory full of xml files that need some analysis done to generate a report. I have my stylesheet operating on a single document fine, but I'd like to extend that without going to another tool to merge the xml documents.

I was thinking along these lines:

<xsl:for-each select="{IO Selector Here}">
    <xsl:variable select="document(@url)" name="contents" />
    <!--More stuff here-->
</xsl:for-each>

Answer 1

In XSLT 2.0, and with Saxon, you can do this with the collection() function:

<xsl:for-each select="file:///path/to/directory">
  <!-- process the documents -->
</xsl:for-each>

See http://www.saxonica.com/documentation/sourcedocs/collections.html for more details.

In XSLT 1.0, you have to create an index that lists the documents you want to process with a separate tool. Your environment may provide such a tool; for example, Cocoon has a Directory Generator that creates such an index. But without knowing what your environment is, it's hard to know what to recommend.