As far as I understand JAXP docs, systemID should be null if setSystemId was not called. xalan uses "user.dir" property as a default systemID (and an empty string if the property is not available e.g. for applets). It seems to me the current behavior is incorrect. I think I should fix it for applets ( setting default systemID=null if "user.dir" property is not available), but I am not sure if I should do also for applications because it could break some users. Igor Hersht XSLT Development IBM Canada Ltd., 8200 Warden Avenue, Markham, Ontario L6G 1C7 Office D2-260, Phone (905)413-3240 ; FAX (905)413-4839
