[xsl] <option selected> breaking xsl?

[elizabeth Hostetter <aellath@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

i'm creating a dropdown that is populated by page numbers determined  
by xsl and a number of items per page. i've got the dropdown working  
with the js and xsl, but now i'm trying to have the *current* page be  
the one that displays when the dropdown is created (so if i'm on page  
4, "4" is the pre-selected option in the dropdown.

i know the attribute in html is <option selected> -- but it causes an  
xsl transform error every time. i know this, because i've taken just  
that one attribute out of my code, and the code doesn't break.

<code>
<!-- dropdown page menu -->      	
								<select id="pageMenu" onChange="turnPage();">
									<xsl:for-each select="//PageOffset">
										<xsl:choose>
											<xsl:when test=". != ../CurrentItemOffset">
												<option><xsl:value-of select="position()"/></option>
											</xsl:when>
											<xsl:otherwise>
												<option selected><xsl:value-of select="position()" /></ 
option>
											</xsl:otherwise>
										</xsl:choose>
									</xsl:for-each>
								</select>	
</code>

If i take out the 'selected' attribute in the <xsl:otherwise> clause,  
the page loads normally. Obviously, the choose block is pointless if i  
do that, though!

i'm positing that the transform is choking on the 'selected' because  
it looks like the 'select' attribute in xsl - but it's not in an xsl  
tag, so why?

Of course, just like last time, the error message is not helpful:
<blockquote>
XSL Transform Error:
java.lang.Exception: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: character not  
allowed
Message:org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: character not allowed
</blockquote>

can anyone tell me why 'selected' is breaking the page, and if there's  
a way to do this?

thank you!
aellath