Getting error message - Open quote is expected for Choose statement

I am sorry to have to bother you, but I am sort of at a stand still and have been trying to find some info that will explain how to do this but haven't had any luck yet.

I am creating an xml file from a Notes document.  The xml file uses .xsl file for the creation of the pdf.  

The format for the Purchase Order may have one item on the table, or 15 items within the table.  Due to the manner in which the notes document was built, the xml file has the values for each of the items in separate elements.  So I am needing to read all of the elements in the xml file realizing that some of the elements may be empty.  For the empty elments, I do not want to display anything in the table so that
is why I am thinking about the use of the "Choose" statment.

Below is an excerpt of the code that I have, this is the error statement in the Java debugger:

                Open quote is expected for attribute "holdnum" associated with an  element type  "xsl:when".

Sorry for being so long in explaining this but I hope you can decipher what I am wanting to do.  

Thank you in advance for any comments.
jlr

CODE:

<!--Terms and Account Information Section-->

        <fo:block text-align="left">
             <fo:table table-layout="fixed" xsl:use-attribute-sets="newborderspace" border-collapse="collapse" empty-cells="hide">                                          
             <fo:table-column column-width="43mm"/>
             <fo:table-column column-width="44mm"/>
             <fo:table-column column-width="44mm"/>
             <fo:table-column column-width="44mm"/>
                     
             <fo:table-body>
                  <!--Adding first row in table-->

                 <fo:table-row border-after-style="double">
                 <fo:table-cell xsl:use-attribute-sets="cell-padding" border="solid black 0.5px">
                    <fo:block xsl:use-attribute-sets="detailtable">                            
                         <xsl:value-of select="TermsSection/TermsTitle"/>
                     </fo:block>      
                   <fo:block xsl:use-attribute-sets="lgdetailtable">        
                         <xsl:value-of select="TermsSection/Terms"/>
                     </fo:block>                
                 </fo:table-cell>                
             </fo:table-row>  
              <!--At this point want to check the value of the holdnum variable
               if the value is equal to 1, than do this part otherwise go on down
               to the next when statement and check if it matches, if it does, execute,
               else go to the next statement.-->

     <xsl:variable name= "holdnum"    select="numitemtotal" />
     <xsl:choose>
         <xsl:when holdnum = '1' >
              <fo:table-row  
                   <fo:table-cell  border="solid black 0.5px" empty-cells="hide">
                        <fo:block >
                            <xsl:value-of select="header/column9"/>
                        </fo:block>                  
                  </fo:table-cell>
                  <fo:table-cell  border="solid black 0.5px" empty-cells="hide">
                        <fo:block >
                            <xsl:value-of select="header/column10"/>
                        </fo:block>                      
                  </fo:table-cell>                              
               </fo:table-row>      
         </xsl:when>

   
         <xsl:when holdnum = '2' >
              <fo:table-row  
                   <fo:table-cell  border="solid black 0.5px" empty-cells="hide">
                        <fo:block >
                            <xsl:value-of select="header/column19"/>
                        </fo:block>                  
                  </fo:table-cell>
                  <fo:table-cell  border="solid black 0.5px" empty-cells="hide">
                        <fo:block >
                            <xsl:value-of select="header/column20"/>
                        </fo:block>                      
                  </fo:table-cell>                              
               </fo:table-row>      
         </xsl:when>
   
     
         <xsl:otherwise>  
               <fo:table-row >
                   <fo:table-cell  border="solid black 0.5px" empty-cells="hide">
                        <fo:block >
                            <xsl:value-of select="header/column39"/>
                        </fo:block>                  
                  </fo:table-cell>
                  <fo:table-cell  border="solid black 0.5px" empty-cells="hide">
                        <fo:block>
                            <xsl:value-of select="header/column40"/>
                        </fo:block>                      
                  </fo:table-cell>                                      
               </fo:table-row>            
              </xsl:otherwise>
            </xsl:choose>                                          
            </fo:table-body>
          </fo:table>
        </fo:block>        

<!--End of Terms and Account Information Section-->