conditional variable assignment

I'm having to unlearn everything I take for granted in Perl when dealing
with XSL. Take conditional variable assignments, like "if x, then a=b". Easy
enough to do in XSL:

<xsl:if test="some_expr">
    <xsl:variable name="a" expr="b">
</xsl:if>

Easy, that is, if you don't mind the fact that your variable only exists
within the <xsl:if> node and its children. So, the following won't work:

<xsl:variable name="color" expr="Get/Color/From/Some/@Attribute">
<xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="$color='red'">
        <xsl:variable name="tint" expr="'pink'">
        <xsl:variable name="shade" expr="'maroon'">
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="$color='violet">
        <xsl:variable name="tint" expr="'lavender'">
        <xsl:variable name="shade" expr="'indigo'">
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
        <xsl:variable name="tint" expr="'light gray'">
        <xsl:variable name="shade" expr="'dark gray'">
    </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:text>
The color is <xsl:value-of select="$color"/>...
The tint is <xsl:value-of select="$tint"/> (not there, is it?)...
The shade is <xsl:value-of select="$shade"/> (not there either!)
</xsl:text>

So, then, is the solution to be found in some less than obvious hierarchy of
XSL instructions, or is an entirely different approach necessary?


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