How to convert and move XML comment nodes to element nodes in a different location - xslt

Question

I have a document that contains comment nodes in a variety of locations. I want to move these comments to a single new location in the document, and convert them to p elements.
I am an XSLT beginner, and with the help of W3schools and StackFlow I’ve been able to get these comments converted and in the correct location. However, the converted comments are copied, not moved, so they stay in their original locations.
For example, given the following input:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--Comment before root element-->
<concept>
<!--Comment element is parent-->
<title>Test Topic</title>
<shortdesc>This is a shortdesc element <!-- shortdesc element is parent --></shortdesc>
<conbody>
<!-- Conbody element is parent -->
<p>This is para 1 </p>
<section>
<!--Section element is parent; comment is before title-->
<title>Section 1</title>
<!--Section element is parent; comment is after title-->
<p>This is para 1 in section1</p>
</section>
</conbody>
</concept>
I want the following output:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<concept>
<title>Test Topic</title>
<shortdesc>This is a shortdesc element </shortdesc>
<conbody>
<p>This is para 1 </p>
<section>
<title>Section 1</title>
<p>This is para 1 in section1</p>
</section>
<section outputclass="authorNote">
<p>Comment before root element </p>
<p>Comment element is parent</p>
<p>shortdesc element is parent</p>
<p>Conbody element is parent</p>
<p>Section element is parent; comment is before title</p>
<p>Section element is parent; comment is after title</p>
</section>
</conbody>
This is my stylesheet:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="2.0">
<xsl:output method="xml" encoding="UTF-8"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="node() | #*" />
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<!-- Create new section to hold converted comments -->
<xsl:template match="conbody" >
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
<section outputclass="authorNote">
<xsl:apply-templates select="//comment()"/>
</section>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<!-- Convert comment nodes to p elements -->
<xsl:template match="//comment()">
<p><xsl:value-of select="."/></p>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Which produces the following output:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<p>Comment before root element </p>
<concept>
<p>Comment element is parent</p>
<title>Test Topic</title>
<shortdesc>This is a shortdesc element <p>shortdesc element is parent</p></shortdesc>
<conbody>
<p>Conbody element is parent</p>
<p>This is para 1 </p>
<section>
<p>Section element is parent; comment is before title</p>
<title>Section 1</title>
<p>Section element is parent; comment is after title</p>
<p>This is para 1 in section1</p>
</section>
<section outputclass="authorNote">
<p>Comment before root element </p>
<p>Comment element is parent</p>
<p>shortdesc element is parent</p>
<p>Conbody element is parent</p>
<p>Section element is parent; comment is before title</p>
<p>Section element is parent; comment is after title</p>
</section>
</conbody>
</concept>
What am I doing wrong? The articles I have found so far are all about manipulating elements, rather than comment nodes. Can someone give me some tips on how to address this problem?

Answer 1

Separate the two tasks with modes (don't copy the comments with the default mode, transform them with a different mode):
<!-- suppress treatment of comments through default mode -->
<xsl:template match="comment()"/>
<!-- Create new section to hold converted comments -->
<xsl:template match="conbody" >
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
<section outputclass="authorNote">
<xsl:apply-templates select="//comment()" mode="transform"/>
</section>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<!-- Convert comment nodes to p elements -->
<xsl:template match="comment()" mode="transform">
<p><xsl:value-of select="."/></p>
</xsl:template>
Online sample at http://xsltransform.net/93dEHGn.