> > As a side question, i tend to make things like
> >
> >                         <xsl:if test="parent::menu=(//menu)[$pos]">
> >                             <xsl:text>1</xsl:text>
> >                         </xsl:if>
> >                         <xsl:if 
> test="not(parent::menu=(//menu)[$pos])">
> >                             <xsl:text>0</xsl:text>
> >                         </xsl:if>
> >
> > Is there any drawback in doing this insted of choose/when/otherwise?

Yes, you're writing more code and the XSLT processor is executing more code.

In fact, assuming you've got the boolean condition right, you could replace
this whole thing by

<xsl:value-of select="number(parent::menu=(//menu)[$pos])"/>

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/