Martin, thanks for the suggestions.  I finally figured out how to use 
xsl:choose, xsl:when, and xsl:otherwise to accomplish my task just about ten 
minutes before your posting.  I wanted to try using XSLT 2.0 as you 
suggested, but I'm working in a corporate environment where it isn't being 
utilized.  I also tried adding empty-cells:show to the table's style 
attribute, but it also appeared not to be supported here.  Anyway, thanks 
again for your suggestions.

Allen Anderson
-- 
Things are more like they are now than they ever have been before.


"Martin Honnen" wrote:

> AlBruAn wrote:
> > Thank you for suggesting a way of avoiding using CDATA and escaping the &.  
> > My question is still this: how can I go about using data in the cell if any 
> > is available or replacing it, as you've suggested, with the   to ensure 
> > the border is drawn around the cell?  As I mentioned in my original post, I 
> > thought there might be a way of incorporating xsl:if along with xsl:value-of, 
> > but I honestly don't know.
> 
> Use xsl:choose e.g. replace
> 
> <td><xsl:value-of select="ClaimNumber" /></td>
> 
> with
> 
> <td>
>    <xsl:choose>
>      <xsl:when test="normalize-space(ClaimNumber)">
>        <xsl:value-of select="ClaimNumber"/>
>      <xsl:when>
>      <xsl:otherwise> </xsl:otherwise>
>    </xsl:choose>
> </td>
> 
> If you are using XSLT 2.0 then it is even easier
> <td><xsl:value-of select="if (normalize-space(ClaimNumber)) then 
> ClaimNumber else ' '"/></td>
> 
> You should also investigate CSS 2 and the setting empty-cells: show. If 
> your browser supports that (and Mozilla, Opera do) then you can avoid 
> the above attempts and simply use CSS to ensure that empty cells are 
> shown: <URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/tables.html#empty-cells>
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 	Martin Honnen --- MVP XML
> 	http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/
>