Hi,

> does the use of this document function lower the speed of my 
> application?
> i.e. if i have:
> 
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> <xsl:variable name="config-top" select="document( 'names.xml' 
> )/config"/>
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> 
> does it act as a variable where by onces set it doesn't depend on the
> availability of
> names.xml document any more?

I didn't quite get the last sentence. Anyhow, most, if not all processors, evaluate variable only when they're needed, so if you don't use $config-top anywhere, the document names.xml is not fetched and read into a source tree. Also, processors cache the documents for the duration of the transformation (or life-span of e.g. Transformer object), so if it's used in multiple locations in your stylesheet, processed only once. 

Cheers,

Jarno - Ivory Frequency: Today is the Day

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