getting around xpaths in gentext

Hey folks,

I have a situation where I'm referencing an attribute value from the root node in a block that is getting formatted into a table with gentext. The problem is I lose the attribute value because XPaths do not work in gentext very well.

Consider the sample XML...

<root attr="foo">

<block>

<p> The value is <placeholder target="attr"/>.</p>

</block>

</root>

I have an XPath/Attribute set on placeholder to get the value of "attr" from the root node. The stylesheet is formatting <block> into a table. When these combine, I lose the value of attr in placeholder.

I've seen this done before, but can't remember how it is done. Appreciate any tips.

Thanks,

-Jeff