Daniel,

I wrote:
> Since you know the element names in the header, I guess you can list
> the elements in the header. In which case, you can select the rows
> that you're interested in with:
>
>   row[not(column[position() = $header/AAA or
>                  position() = $header/BBB or
>                  position() = $header/CCC or
>                  position() = $header/DDD]
>                 [not(normalize-space())])]
>
> where $header is set with:
>
> <xsl:variable name="header" select="/root/header" />

Actually, without knowing the names of the elements in the header, you
can do:

  row[not(column[position() = $header/*]
                [not(normalize-space())])]

which is somewhat easier.
                
Cheers,

Jeni

---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/