Choose statement messing up my variable? - xslt

Question

I've got a choose statement that should be setting my variable but for some reason the code, though it works elsewhere, does not work in this instance.
Here's my XSLT:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:param name="url-show"/>
<xsl:param name="url-min"/>
<xsl:param name="url-max"/>
<xsl:template match="data">
<xsl:variable name="show" select="$url-show"/>
<xsl:choose>
<!-- With Min/Max -->
<xsl:when test="$url-min != '' and $url-max != ''">
<xsl:variable name="total" select="timeshare-search-results/pagination/#total-entries"/>
</xsl:when>
<!-- Without Min/Max -->
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:variable name="total" select="timeshare-listings/pagination/#total-entries"/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:variable name="default" select="$increment"/>
<xsl:choose>
<!-- With Show Variable -->
<xsl:when test="$show != ''">
<xsl:if test="$show < $total or $show = $total">
<!-- stuff -->
</xsl:if>
</xsl:when>
<!-- Without Show Variable -->
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:if test="$default < $total or $default = $total">
<!-- stuff -->
</xsl:if>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
I trimmed out the non-essential bits. The funny thing is that when I just have one variable or the other they work just fine. The problem is, they do not show the same data thus I need to choose one or the other based on two URL parameters.
Thing is, I do this elsewhere on this very same page—though I trimmed it out for the example—and it works perfectly fine!
Why isn't it working in this instance? Is there a way I can get around it?

Answer 1

Variables are immutable in XSLT, and they are scoped and visible from the point of instantiation forward to the end of their parent element.
<xsl:when ...>
<xsl:variable ...>
</xsl:when>
scopes the variable to just the <xsl:when> block. If there is a variable with that name defined before the <xsl:choose> block, it will appear to be 'restored' when the block is past, since it is no longer shadowed.
The proper way to set a variable is to wrap the <xsl:variable> definition around the <xsl:choose> block, like this:
<xsl:variable name="total">
<xsl:choose>
<!-- With Min/Max -->
<xsl:when test="$url-min != '' and $url-max != ''">
<xsl:value-of select="timeshare-search-results/pagination/#total-entries"/>
</xsl:when>
<!-- Without Min/Max -->
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="timeshare-listings/pagination/#total-entries"/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
Now, $total will be scoped to the parent of the <xsl:variable> block, which is the <xsl:template match="data"> block.