> I dimly grasp I need an <xsl:value-of select =
> $myindex/> somewhere,



    <a  href="namelist.xml?key='{$myindex}'"><xsl:value-of select
      ="."/></a>

or simpler, don't bother with the variable at all:

    <a  href="namelist.xml?key='{@index}'"><xsl:value-of select
      ="."/></a>

David


 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list