Integrated extension functions

There are two ways of writing extension functions. The traditional way is to map the name of the function to a Java or .NET method: specifically, the namespace URI of the function name maps to the Java or .NET class name, and the local part of the function name maps to the Java or .NET method name. These are known as reflexive extension functions, and are described in later pages.

Since Saxon 9.2, this technique has been supplemented by a new mechanism, referred to as integrated extension functions.

There are several advantages in this approach:

There are two ways of writing integrated extension functions: the simple API and the full API. The full API is available for both the Java and .NET platforms; the simple API is available only for Java. The resulting combinations are described on the following pages.