Problem inserting XML variable in XSLT Source template

[BjornEricsson1]

I can't figure out how to inserting process variables of type XML into XSLT Source templates. I have no problem inserting variables of type String.

This is the insert part of my stylesheet:

 <xsl:variable name="stringvariable" select="'{$/process_data/@stringVariable$}'"/>
 <xsl:variable name="externalNodes" select="'{$/process_data/inputNodeNames$}'"/>

The string variable is inserted and later printed for verification.

I have also created a local variable (with same contents as external) for reference:

 <xsl:variable name="internalNodes">
  <root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
   <block>$.Formularmetadata</block>
   <block>$.Sorteringsdata</block>
   <block>$.Metadata</block>
   <block>$.Verksamhetsdata</block>
  </root>
 </xsl:variable>

I then invoke count(exsl:node-set()) on both variable in the template, but only the local have a value over 0.

How can I get this to work?

/BS

PS. This is the full XSL stylesheet:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
 xmlns:exsl="http://exslt.org/common" extension-element-prefixes="exsl">
 <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
 
 <xsl:variable name="stringvariable" select="'{$/process_data/@stringVariable$}'"/>
 <xsl:variable name="externalNodes" select="'{$/process_data/inputNodeNames$}'"/>
 <xsl:variable name="internalNodes">
  <root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
   <block>$.Formularmetadata</block>
   <block>$.Sorteringsdata</block>
   <block>$.Metadata</block>
   <block>$.Verksamhetsdata</block>
  </root>
 </xsl:variable>
 
 <!-- Identity rule.-->
 <xsl:template match="node()|@*">
  <xsl:copy>
   <xsl:apply-templates select="node()|@*"/>
  </xsl:copy>
 </xsl:template>
 
 <!-- Rewrite attribute ref to work with new XML.-->
 <xsl:template match="*[local-name()='bind']/@ref">
  <xsl:value-of select="$stringvariable "/>
  <xsl:value-of select="' Internal'"/><xsl:value-of select="count(exsl:node-set($internalNodes)/root/block)"/>
  <xsl:value-of select="' External'"/><xsl:value-of select="count(exsl:node-set($externalNodes)/root/block)"/>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

[BjornEricsson1 · Accepted solution]

After som more experientation I found that if I use a string variable to transfer the data it seams to work. I insert it between a start- and end-tag and then use it after I have embedded it in exsl:node-set() to make it work as XML.

<xsl:variable name="topNodes">'{$/process_data/@xmlTopNodes$}'</xsl:variable>