tis a faq.

/ means the root node of the current document (ie the document that the
current node is in)

so this

  <xsl:for-each select="/vbtn:issue/vb

is looking below _that_ root_

you want

  <xsl:for-each select="$input/vbtn:issue/vb

where

<xsl:variable name="input" select="/"/>

is a stored reference to your original root node, eg at the top level of
your stylesheet.

David

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