RE: generate-id() explanation

> Sorry about that. I tried this on one of my files, and ran 
> the transformation using saxon. But it generated the same ids 
> for two nodes in the same XML file. In my program I use
> 
> <list2 id="{generate-id(.)}">
> 
> That's the reason I asked again. I wanted to make sure I was 
> understanding this correctly.
> Does it matter if you say generate-id(.) or just generate-id()?

No, if you omit the argument then it defaults to the context node.

I see now where your problem lies. generate-id() produces a unique ID for
the node supplied as the argument. It knows nothing about nodes in the
output document. If you generate two nodes in the output from a single node
in the input, then generate-id(.) will produce the same value twice.

Regards,

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
http://twitter.com/michaelhkay