Is there an easy way (or any way at all) to identify the type of the
node being processed?

  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="self::book:fig">      <!--display caption-->
      <xsl:text>book:fig: </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="self::*">                  <!--an element-->
      <xsl:text>Element: </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="self::text()">              <!--show text-->
      <xsl:text>Text: </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="self::comment()">      <!--reveal comment-->
      <xsl:text>Comment: </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="self::processing-instruction()">   <!--pi-->
      <xsl:text>PI: </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="count(.|/)=1">                  <!--root-->
      <xsl:text>root </xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
               <!--specific namespaced-unqualified attribute-->
    <xsl:when test="count(.|../@version)=count(../@version)">
      <xsl:text>version attribute </xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
                  <!--specific namespace-qualified attribute-->
    <xsl:when test="count(.|../@book:ref)=count(../@book:ref)">
      <xsl:text>book:ref attribute </xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
                       <!--any namespace-qualified attribute-->
    <xsl:when test="count(.|../@book:*)=count(../@book:*)">
      <xsl:text>book:* attribute </xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
                                           <!--any attribute-->
    <xsl:when test="count(.|../@*)=count(../@*)">
      <xsl:text>attribute </xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
                                      <!--specific namespace-->
    <xsl:when test="count(.|../namespace::xsl)=
                    count(../namespace::xsl)">
      <xsl:text>XSL namespace </xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
                                           <!--any namespace-->
    <xsl:when test="count(.|../namespace::*)=
                    count(../namespace::*)">
      <xsl:text>namespace </xsl:text>
    </xsl:when>
  </xsl:choose>

--
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G. Ken Holman                 mailto:gkholman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Crane Softwrights Ltd.          http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/s/
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