Two versions of variable expression

Hi all,

   I posted this question last week already but somehow it never
showed up on the list. So here is my question again. Consider the
following two expressions:

<xsl:variable name="cell">
  <xsl:value-of select="following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/text[@name=$colname] |
                        following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/select[@name=$colname] |
                        following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/checkbox[@name=$colname] |
                        following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/label[@name=$colname]"/>
</out:variable>

<xsl:variable name="cell" select="following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/text[@name=$colname] |
                           following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/select[@name=$colname] |
                           following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/checkbox[@name=$colname] |
                           following-sibling::*[position() =
1]/label[@name=$colname]"/>

The second expression allows me to work with $cell, the first expression
doesn't.
In the case of the first expression I get an error message even though I
know that he
node I'm interested in exists. Why is that? Unfortunately, I cannot use the
second
expression because I have to add some if-statement into the whole business.

- Joerg


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