> It is better to log the string length from root to the 
> beginning of each particular node, and then use that number 
> to rank the elements from Top to Bottom. In fact, that is 
> what I want to do. What be your recommendation to do that?

I'm sorry, I really have very little idea what you are trying to achieve.

If you want to sort the paths such that the nodes they reference are in
document order, then I don't think you have enough information. You need to
retrieve the actual nodes and sort them into document order.

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