Following works for me:
<xsl:apply-templates select="*[name()='a' and (@value != 'bb' or 
not(starts-with(@value,'b')))]" />


"Sharon" <esdeees@h...> wrote in message 
news:2b13d59b.0406020126.7625903e@p......
> Hi,
> I have a filter function that gives the user 2 columns to select that
> they want to filter on, and I want the second filter to be negative. I
> also want to use the starts-with() function so that users won't have
> to fill in complete filtervalues. Combining the two, not() and
> starts-with() is somewhat problematic... Here's my xsl selectquery
> where the filtering is done, with both filters positive:
>
> <xsl:apply-templates select="general/data/rows/row/*[name()=$field1
> and (@value=$filter1 or
> starts-with(@value,$filter1))]/../*[name()=$field2 and
> (@value=$filter2 or starts-with(@value,$filter2))]/.."
> mode="tableData" />
>
> Now I thought the second filter had to look like this:
> *[name()=$field2 and (@value=!$filter2 or
> not(starts-with(@value,$filter2)))]
>
> but this one makes my table disappear completely. It says there's a
> problem with the Javascript, though, so that could be it as well...Can
> someone tell me if this is the proper way to do this? Or should I use
> more brackets or another combination of operators or something?
> Thanks! Sharon