> As I understand, <xsl:apply-templates/> will read through the
> source xml and look for templates in the stylesheet to process them
> with. 

it won't look all through the XML file if that's what you mean,
xsl:apply-templates without a select attribute is equivalent to
<xsl:apply-templates select="node()"/>
so just selects the child elements, as the current node is th eroot,
there will just be one element selected (plus any comments or process
instructions at the top level)

> in which case, I
> have to include my own template to do nothing,

yes and no.

If you have an element <x> that has all sorts of children that yuu don't
want to process, it is more nomal to have a template for x which does
not call apply-templates and so naturally doesn't process its children
than it is to use a template for x that does use apply templates and
then make templates for each child that does nothing.

If only some of x's children need zapping, suppose you have

<x>
<a>a text</a>
<b>b text</b>
<c>c text</c>
</x>

and yoy want b to go, it is more natural to say

<xsl:template match="b"/>

ie have an empty template for b than to allow b to have the default
template which would process its text child, and then have

<xsl:template match="text()[parent::b]"/>

David

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