> You cannot reach over to the relevant part of the tree (by ID) and
> pluck a copy of a number which has not yet been generated.

No, but you can go over there and generate it.

take sections for example. (assuming <section> is th esection elementand
<xref> the reference)

given 

<xsl:template match="section" mode="number">
  <xsl:number ... whatever settings you want />
</xsl:template>

Then you section heading can use

<xsl:template match="section">
  ... fonts and spacing <xsl:apply-templates mode="number" select="."/> ....
  <xsl:apply-templates mode="number" select="title"/>
</xsl:template>

and you xref can use


<xsl:template match="xref">
 see  <xsl:apply-templates mode="number" select="id(@id)"/>
</xsl:template>


Have a look at Norm's docbook sheets that go in for this style in a big
way....

David

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