> I have an XML document (very large, 78k lines...

that's not especially large...

> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <Metrics scope="eVistaDev" type="PackageRoot" date="2005-11-02"
> xmlns="http://metrics.sourceforge.net/2003/Metrics-First-Flat">
> <Cycle>
> <Package>A.Package.Name</package>
> </Cycle>
> <Metric>(further elements)</Metric>
> <Metric>(further elements)</Metric>
> ...
> <Metrics>
> 
> It is a completely wellformed XML file. I try to access the 
> attributes of
> the Metrics element (the root element). I have no luck with that. Can
> anybody tell me where is the error for that I'm blind for?

You're confusing the outermost element with the document node. "/" matches
the document node. The outermost element is a child of the document node.
The document node does not have attributes; for that you need to select the
outermost element. (Note: in the XPath 1.0 data model the document node is
known as the "root node")

>                 <xsl:for-each select="Metric[count(Value)=1]">


Even if your context node were the outermost (Metrics) element, this
wouldn't work, because your Metric element is in a namespace. Google for
"XSLT default namespace".

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