XPath error with Xalan

["Thomson, Alisa" <Thomson@fhlb-of.com>]

Title: XPath error with Xalan

I have a template that was producing the exact output I need except that I need the elements to be optional.  So, if an element is empty it should not be processed.  I tried several different methods of testing to see if an element is empty…all of which work fine through XMLSpy (using the MSXML parser); however, will Xalan all of the methods break with the following exception:

ERROR [2004-11-04 14:48:54,608] [woods][TFO] : PDFGenerator.generatePDF::Caught
TransformerException; SystemID: file:///c:/Projects/Eneg/dev/templates/couponRows.xsl; Line#: 56; Column#: 41
javax.xml.transform.TransformerException: Unknown error in XPath
        at org.apache.xpath.XPath.bool(XPath.java:411)
        at org.apache.xalan.templates.ElemIf.execute(ElemIf.java:198)
        at org.apache.xalan.transformer.TransformerImpl.executeChildTemplates(TransformerImpl.java:2182)
        at org.apache.xalan.templates.ElemLiteralResult.execute(ElemLiteralResult.java:678)

Here are two samples of methods I tried:

  <xsl:if test="Determination[. != '']">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="Determination"/>
  </xsl:if>

  <xsl:if test="string()">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="Determination"/>
  </xsl:if>

I also tried placing the Xalan jar in the java_home/lib/endorsed directory like the Xalan docs specify for JDK1.4 with the same results.

Below is the EnvironmentCheck output from Xalan:

C:\Projects\Eneg\dev\scripts\batch>java org.apache.xalan.xslt.EnvironmentCheck
#---- BEGIN writeEnvironmentReport($Revision: 1.14 $): Useful stuff found: ----
version.DOM.draftlevel=2.0fd
java.class.path=C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/dist/enegotiated.jar;C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/d
ist/enegotiated_web.jar;C:/bea/jdk141_05/lib/tools.jar;C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/lib/
log4j-1.2.4.jar;C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/lib/xerces.jar;C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/lib/fop
.jar;C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/lib/avalon-framework-4.1.5.jar;C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/li
b/batik.jar;C:/bea/weblogic81/server/lib/jConnect.jar;C:/bea/weblogic81/server/l
ib/jconn2.jar;C:/Projects/Eneg/dev/java/ear/war/WEB-INF/classes
version.JAXP=1.1
java.ext.dirs=C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\lib\ext
version.xerces2=not-present
version.xerces1=Xerces 1.4.4
version.xalan2_2=Xalan Java 2.4.1
version.xalan1=not-present
version.ant=not-present
java.version=1.4.2_03
version.DOM=2.0
version.crimson=present-unknown-version
sun.boot.class.path=C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\lib\rt.jar;C:\Program Fil
es\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\lib\i18n.jar;C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\lib\sunrsas
ign.jar;C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\lib\jsse.jar;C:\Program Files\Java\j2
re1.4.2_03\lib\jce.jar;C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\lib\charsets.jar;C:\Pr
ogram Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\classes
#---- BEGIN Listing XML-related jars in: foundclasses.java.class.path ----
xerces.jar-path=C:\Projects\Eneg\dev\lib\xerces.jar
xerces.jar-apparent.version=xerces.jar from xalan-j_2_2_0
#----- END Listing XML-related jars in: foundclasses.java.class.path -----
version.SAX=2.0
version.xalan2x=Xalan Java 2.4.1
#----- END writeEnvironmentReport: Useful properties found: -----
# YAHOO! Your environment seems to be OK.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ci-Ci