using param in match expression

[Philipp Strazny]

Since I'm new to XSLT, I hesitate to submit this as a bug:
I'm trying to supply a location path dynamically to a stylesheet, to 
process only a fragment of the source xml. I pull the path in as a 
parameter, and I can successfully reference this parameter in the select 
of an apply-templates construct:

...
<xsl:param name="startpath" select="/" />   #defined as a global
...
  <xsl:template match="/">
    ...
        <xsl:apply-templates select="$startpath" />
    ...
  </xsl:template>
However, if I try to go straight to the fragment, as in
...
   <xsl:template match="$startpath">...
...
I get the following error:
XPathParserException: A node test was expected
pattern = '$startpath' Remaining tokens:  ('$' 'startpath')
If I understand this correctly, I can reference variables/parameters in 
select contexts, but not in match contexts? It took me forever to figure 
this out, since the XSLT specification doesn't seem to say that 
variables can only be referenced in certain places. Can anyone tell me 
whether this is a bug of Xalan-C or a feature of XSLT?

Best,
Philipp
--
Philipp Strazny            Tel.: (608) 230-1000
Localization Specialist    Fax:  (608) 230-1010
The Geo Group              [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.thegeogroup.com