In article <44q19bF35d53U1@i...>, peter.nosp@m... 
says...
> 42 wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I'm pretty new to XSL, and I've bumped into what is probably (hopefully) 
> > a simple problem.
> > 
> > I need to convert a simple xml document containing just repeated 
> > 'generic' data blocks of:
> > 
> > <record>
> > 	<data>Bob</data>
> > 	<data>Smith</data>
> > 	...
> > </record>
> > 
> > to:
> > 
> > <person>
> > 	<firstname>Bob</firstname>
> > 	<lastname>Smith</lastname>
> > 	...
> > </person>
> > 
> > The source xml contains the same number of  <data> elements for each 
> > record, are in a consistent order, with no omissions.
> > 
> > I've figured out how to use foreach to iterate over the person records, 
> 
> Don't. Use templates instead, it's faster and clearer.
> 
> <xsl:template match="record">
>    <person>
>      <xsl:apply-templates/>
>    </person>
> </xsl:template>
> 
> <xsl:template match="data[1]">
>    <firstname>
>      <xsl:apply-templates/>
>    </firstname>
> </xsl:template>
> 
> <xsl:template match="data[2]">
>    <surname>
>      <xsl:apply-templates/>
>    </surname>
> </xsl:template>
> 
> Keep for-each for things like sorting and accessing nodes out of
> document order.
> 
> > but can't see how to select the nth occurence of <data> within each 
> > record.
> 
> Think like a tree, not like a chainsaw :-)

Thanks much... and for the templates advice too. 

The real stumbler was that I didn't know about the 'indexing' syntax -- 
[x]; and since I didn't know it existed, didn't have a clue what to 
search for - everything I searched for on terms like repeating elements 
etc just got me into recursive templates, numbering, counting, sorting.

That tidbit: data[1] & data[2] -- turned it from hard to trivial in 
nothing flat.  :)

Thanks to both responders.

-regards,
Dave