[xsl-fo] generating the correct number of columns for a table from html

Hi all,
I need to generate a table in xsl-fo from an html table. My problem is that in 
FO, you need to declare the number of columns before starting the body.

On the FAQ, I only found the (enlightening) discussion on how to get the 
maximum number of child nodes 
(http://www.biglist.com/lists/xsl-list/archives/200101/msg00177.html), but the 
resulting code gives a number and I don't know how to use that.

My question is: if I have a number (say "8"), how do I loop through to generate 
8 times the line : <fo:table-column column-width="2cm"/> ?

thanks for any help.
Camille

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