build node-set variable from result tree fragment using

Question

Is it possible to create a node-set variable from an rtf using xsl:choose (for use in MSXML engine)?

I have the following construct:

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Answer 1

Just for the record, I add the final solution below. It is slightly different from what Michael proposed, adding a copy of the RTF to a variable before applying the template.
This is because otherwise MSXML still errors during xsl parsing (apparently it checks the apply-templates select value and concludes it is not correct when it is an RTF instead of a node-set. And, as Michael said, xsl:variable select attribute does just that: converting an RTF to a node-set.

<xsl:choose>
        <xsl:when test="function-available('msxsl:node-set')">
        <xsl:apply-templates select="msxsl:node-set($std:colorList)/color" mode="addTRclassToCSS"/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
        <xsl:variable name="colorList" select="$std:colorList"/>
        <xsl:apply-templates select="$colorList" mode="addTRclassToCSS"/>
    </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>


<xsl:template match="color" mode="addTRclassToCSS">
                tr.testid<xsl:value-of select="@testid"/> {
                color:<xsl:value-of select="."/>;
                }
</xsl:template>

Answer 2

Unfortunately in XSLT 1.0, when xsl:variable has contained instructions rather than a select attribute, the result is always an RTF. So your careful attempts to convert the RTF to a node-set come to nothing, because it's converted straight back again.

I'm afraid there's no clean workaround (other than moving to XSLT 2.0, of course). I would suggest structuring the code like this:

<xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="function-available('msxsl:node-set')">
        <xsl:apply-templates select="msxsl:node-set($std:colorList)/color" mode="z"/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
        <xsl:apply-templates select="$std:colorList/color" mode="z"/>
    </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

<xsl:template match="color" mode="z">
     tr.testid<xsl:value-of select="@testid"/> {
                color:<xsl:value-of select="."/>;
            }
</xsl:template>