help needed with xpath

[Thomas Lukasser <th...@gmx.at>]

Hello!

First of all, I'd like to tell you how much I appreciate the work you do. Your effort is amazing! 
I'm a student at the Vienna University Of Technology and have chosen a Master Thesis concerning xpath evaluation.

We think we have found a way to eliminate the exponational behavior of xpath-evaluation for xpaths like 
"//a/b/parent::a/b/parent::a/b/parent::a/b/parent::a/b/parent::a/b". 

My problem now is: I cannot find the point(s) in xalan, where I get the resulting nodeset for the evaluation of a locationstep for a certain contextnode, e.g. the contextnode a and the locationstep /b . Is there a way to get this nodeset BEFORE the whole xpath is evaluated?

I'd appreciate every suggestion very much!

Sincerely, 
Thomas Lukasser