one last thing if i may if have to include my test inside a loop for each will i have to change something ( right now it give false for every row)

  <xsl:for-each select="/doc/content/element/element_content/data/items/listElement">   		  	  				<fo:block>
<xsl:value-of select="boolean ( listElement[categOrSubOrOther ='Categ']/following-sibling::listElement[categOrSubOrOther = 'Sub'] )"></xsl:value-of>							   								</fo:block>			

</xsl:for-each>

	Martin Honnen
	http://msmvps.com/blogs/martin_honnen/