: I will like to put together an "fo:block" element using the 
: value of that
: variable
: to look something like this:
: 
:     <fo:block text-align="start">some text</fo:block>
: 

Here's a direct quote from http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt.html#attribute-sets 

The following example creates a named attribute set title-style and uses it
in a template rule.

<xsl:template match="chapter/heading">
  <fo:block quadding="start" xsl:use-attribute-sets="title-style">
    <xsl:apply-templates/>
  </fo:block>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:attribute-set name="title-style">
  <xsl:attribute name="font-size">12pt</xsl:attribute>
  <xsl:attribute name="font-weight">bold</xsl:attribute>
</xsl:attribute-set>

- Eugene 

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