> > What happens if you remove the (apparently unnecessary) second step?
> 
> Umm, being a bear of very little brain, can you explain what 
> I need to change below to do this? Sorry to be so dense...
> 
> >>   SAXParserFactory spf = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();
> >>   spf.setNamespaceAware(true);
> >>   SAXParser parser = spf.newSAXParser();
> >>   reader = parser.getXMLReader();
> >>   stf = (SAXTransformerFactory) TransformerFactory.newInstance();
> >>   String s = serializeTree();
> >>   System.out.println("DEBUG: " + s);     // <------- DEBUG
> >>   InputSource input = new InputSource(new StringReader(s));
> >>   filter = stf.newXMLFilter(new StreamSource(stylesheet));
> >>   filter.setParent(reader);
> >>   StreamResult result = new StreamResult(response.getWriter());
> >>   Transformer transformer = stf.newTransformer();
> >>   SAXSource transformSource = new SAXSource(filter, input);
> >>   transformer.transform(transformSource, result);
> 

Change it to

>   SAXParserFactory spf = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();
>   spf.setNamespaceAware(true);
>   SAXParser parser = spf.newSAXParser();
>   reader = parser.getXMLReader();
>   stf = (SAXTransformerFactory) TransformerFactory.newInstance();
>   String s = serializeTree();
>   System.out.println("DEBUG: " + s);     // <------- DEBUG
>   InputSource input = new InputSource(new StringReader(s));
>   StreamResult result = new StreamResult(response.getWriter());
>   Transformer transformer = stf.newTransformer(new
StreamSource(stylesheet));
>   SAXSource transformSource = new SAXSource(reader, input);
>   transformer.transform(transformSource, result);

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