RE: Test For Numeric Values?

> >There is such a construct: e.g. ($x instance of xs:decimal)
> >
> >  
> >
> what does this mean in a basic conforming XSLT processor (of 
> which none
> exists yet...) we can test for element() but what about string() or
> number()....

You can test for any type, for example

$e instance of element()
$e instance of element(*, my:invoiceType)
$s instance of xs:string
$b instance of xs:boolean+

> I think the idea of a simple isnumber(), iselement(), isstring() for
> basic processor and for schema aware a istype(xs:decimal,$x) 
> is more of
> what I am talking about..which of course I can write using 
> xsl:function.

Actually, you can't write a function that takes types as its arguments,
because types are not values.

But I'm not sure what you're looking for that the "instance of" operator
doesn't give you.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/