RE: Balanced Two column tables

Following seems OK.

Input 
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<TASKS>
  <TASK>
    <COMPONENTS>
      <COMPONENT>A</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>B</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>C</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>D</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>E</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>F</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>G</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>H</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>I</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>J</COMPONENT>
      <COMPONENT>K</COMPONENT>
    </COMPONENTS>
  </TASK>
</TASKS>

xsl

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html" indent="yes"/>

<xsl:template match="/">

  <xsl:apply-templates/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="TASKS/TASK/COMPONENTS">
  <xsl:variable name="t-size" select="count(COMPONENT)"/>
  <xsl:variable name="half" select="ceiling($t-size div 2)"/>
   
<TABLE>
  <xsl:for-each select="COMPONENT[position() &lt;= $half]">
   <xsl:variable name="here" select="position()"/>
    <TR>
      <TD><xsl:value-of select="."/></TD>
      <TD>
        <xsl:choose>
	  <xsl:when test="../COMPONENT[$here+$half]">
	    <xsl:value-of select="../COMPONENT[$here+$half]"/>
          </xsl:when>
          <xsl:otherwise></xsl:otherwise>
        </xsl:choose>
      </TD>
    </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
</TABLE>

</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Result


<TABLE>
<TR>
<TD>A</TD><TD>G</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>B</TD><TD>H</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>C</TD><TD>I</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>D</TD><TD>J</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>E</TD><TD>K</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>F</TD><TD></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
  


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