having problems passing parameters to xsl stylesheet from javascript

hi, i would like my javascript in jsp pass a parameter value to an xsl stylesheet, all looks ok but just doesnt work. the page displays nothing.
here is the javascript
+++++++++++++++++++++++
<script type="text/javascript">// Load XML
// Load XML
var xml = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
xml.async = false;
xml.load("msg.xml");
// Load XSL
var xsl = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
xsl.async = false;
xsl.load("sort.xsl");
// Transform
var template = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XSLTemplate");
template.stylesheet = xsl;
val processor = template.createProcessor();
processor.input = xml;
processor.addParameter("sortKey", "author");
processor.transform();
//document.open();
//document.write(processor.output);
//document.close();
document.write(xml.transformNode(xsl));</script>
++++++++++++++++++
and the xsl file
+++++++++++++++++
............
<xsl:for-each select="messageboard/message">
<xsl:sort select="$sortKey" order="ascending"/>
<li>
<a>
<xsl:attribute name="href">display.jsp?msgid=<xsl:value-of select="@id"/></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="subject"/>
................
+++++++++++++++++
any help pls?thanks

no error messages?

sory, already sorted! didnt declare the param....