> -----Original Message-----
> From: Reece, Michael Clark [mailto:REECEM@xxxxxxxxxxxx]


Hi,

Part of the solution (doesn't yet handle empty first cell in a row spanning multiple columns)

<xsl:stylesheet ..>

<xsl:key name="by-prec-nonempty" match="cell[.='']"
         use="generate-id(preceding-sibling::cell[
           not(.='')][1])" />

...
<xsl:template match="cell[.='']">
  <xsl:if test="position()=1">
    <td>&#xA0;</td>
  </xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="cell[not(.='')]">
  <td colspan="{1+count(key('by-prec-nonempty',generate-id(.)))}">
    <xsl:value-of select="." />
  </td>
</xsl:template>


Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Andreas