> So it has to be a parameter to work in both situations.

as I say, you don't want to pass a parameter in the apply-templates
version otherwise they'll all get the same value.

do this:

<xsl:template match="section">
 <xsl:param name="section-number" select="count(preceding-sibling::section) + 1" />
....


now you can just go <xsl:apply-templates/> as before without passing a
parameter and so as the template isn't passed a parameter it'll work out
a default (each time)

in your other code where the section is free standing then you can pass
in a parameter telling it what number to use.

David

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