Transfer attribute data into a text node (apparently not with p:string-replace)

Hi,

I wonder if there is an elegant way to get this working on "empty text 
nodes".

I have to achieve a transfer of attribute data into a text node :

    <status value="active"/>  => <status>active</status>


So my approach was to first create the text node and in a second step 
drop the "value" attribute. But the creation of text nodes already fails 
with:

    <p:string-replace match="*[@value]/node()"
    replace="parent::*/@value" name="value-attr2textnode"/>


For

    <status value="active"/>

<p:string-replace> doesn't produce anything, you need at least 
whitepsace in between.

    <status value="active"> </status>

It seems that "string-replace" is interpreted pretty literally; if there 
is no text node, nothing to replace and it won't be created.

Should I solve this with a little inline XSLT (which is easy), or can 
this be done with lean XProc "on-board equipment"?

Thanks for any response,
Georges