I want to do a sort on some nodes and then get the 1st few elements
based on the sort. I have a solution, but I am wondering about
efficiency.

Say I start with this xml:

<practice>
<a no="3">
     <b>white</b>
</a>

<a no="2">
    <b>red</b>
</a>

<a no="4">
    <b>blue</b>
</a>
</practice>

and I want to get the first 2 sorting on @ no ("red white"). So this
works:

<xsl:template match="practice">
		<xsl:apply-templates select="a">
			<xsl:sort select="@no"/>
		</xsl:apply-templates>

	</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="a">
	<xsl:if test="position()&lt;=2">
		<xsl:value-of select="."/>
	</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>



My question is, will the processor run through every node returned by
the template (i.e., evaluate all three against the if test)? I don't
see why it would stop after the first 2. Am I wrong? In this instance,
it obviously doesn't matter due to the small source file and maybe it
won't ever in my real world uses.

If I am not wrong about the way the processor would work through the
if test, then is this the best solution? Or is there a better way to
go about it?

Thanks.

kj