Mega Code Archive
You can select the last element of given type
<![CDATA[
File: Data.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<data>
<chapter>Chapter A</chapter>
<chapter>Chapter B</chapter>
<chapter>Chapter C</chapter>
<chapter>Chapter D</chapter>
</data>
File: Transform.xslt
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet
version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:variable name="totalChapters">
<xsl:value-of select="//chapter[last()]"/>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="$totalChapters"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Output:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>Chapter D
]]>