xslt - How to use XSL variable in xsl:apply-templates? -

i have reasonably complex call xsl:apply-templates:

<xsl:apply-templates select="columnval[@id                                         , not(@id='_name_')                                         , not(@id='group')                                         , not(@id='_count_')]"/> 

the expression reused in other places this:

<xsl:apply-templates select="someothernode[@id                                             , not(@id='_name_')                                             , not(@id='group')                                             , not(@id='_count_')]"/> 

i want generalize somehow, can define once , reuse elsewhere. however, doesn't seem work:

<xsl:variable name="x">@id , not(@id='_name_') , not(@id='group') , not(@id='_count_')</xsl:variable> <xsl:apply-templates select="columnval[$x]"/> <xsl:apply-templates select="someothernode[$x]"/> 

is there better / different way of doing this? want reuse xpath expression in multiple different calls xsl:apply-templates (some of select different children).

this going used in client application, can't use extensions or switch xslt 2 unfortunately. :(

thanks.

you can't construct xpath dynamically in xslt (at least, not xslt 1.0). can accomplish you're trying using template modes:

<xsl:apply-templates select="columnval" mode="filter"/> <xsl:apply-template select="someothernode" mode="filter"/>  ...  <!-- guarantees elements don't match filter don't output --> <xsl:template match="*" mode="filter"/>  <xsl:template match="*[@id , not(@id='_name_') , not(@id='group') , not(@id='_count_')]" mode="filter">    <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="filtered"/> </xsl:template>  <xsl:template match="columnval" mode="filtered">    <!-- applied columnval elements pass filter --> </xsl:template>  <xsl:template match="someothernode" mode="filtered">    <!-- applied someothernode elements pass filter --> </xsl:template>