[xsl] contains() function with parameters problem...

[James F White <jfwhite@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi! - am a newbie, so am sure this is an insanely basic thing, but can't find answers online or in my books and would appreciate any help!

this works perfectly for me:

<xsl:for-each select="NEWBKS/RECORD[contains(TITLE,'Russia')]">
 etc.

It gets all titles which contain 'Russia'.
but when I try to pass a parameter down (from php script):

xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";>
<xsl:param name="filterby"/>

<xsl:for-each select="NEWBKS/RECORD[contains(TITLE,$filterby)]">

it's a no go. But why?? I've made sure the variable is getting passed from my php script into the XSL file so I know it's getting there.  I've tried all manner of punctuation permutations and curly brackets, but have obviously missed something?

many thanks for any assistance,  Jake