> thanks David this works but my problem still exists 
you still have lots of examples of the problem I mentioned before.

         <xsl:for-each select="$rootnode//component">
That line can only work if $rootnode variable holds a node set but you
define it like
                <xsl:with-param name="rootnode">
                   <xsl:value-of select="/DATA/component"/>
                   </xsl:with-param>

so its not a node set (you have to use the select attribute of
with-param)
its a result tree fragment consisting of a root note, and a text node
with the string value of whatever is in your component element.

Perhaps you need to just give a top level description of what you are
trying to do, and someone may suggest some code.

David

-- 
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