External Functions and Variables

XQuery implementations are often embedded in an environment such as a Java or C# program or a relational database. The environment can provide external functions and variables to XQuery. To access these, a query must declare them in the prolog:

define function outtie($v as xs:integer) as xs:integer external

define variable $v as xs:integer external

XQuery does not specify how such functions and variables are made available by the external environment, or how function parameters and arguments are converted between the external environment and XQuery.