Saxon

Legacy ID: #4928499 Legacy Poster: Chapman Flack (jcflack)

http://saxonica.com/documentation/extensions/functions/evaluate.html says: " The function saxon:evaluate(string) is shorthand for saxon:eval(saxon:expression(string)). " But it's not. Consider: declare function local:zoich() { 'zoiched.' }; saxon:evaluate('local:zoich()') which produces the string 'zoiched', and declare function local:zoich() { 'zoiched.' }; saxon:eval(saxon:expression('local:zoich()')) which produces: Error XPST0017: XPath syntax error at char 13 in {local:zoich()}: Cannot find a matching 0-argument function named {http://www.w3.org/2005/xquery-local-functions}zoich() Static error(s) in query It seems that imported and user-declared functions are in scope for evaluate(), and not in scope for expression(). What evaluate() says should be in scope: " The static context for the expression includes all the in-scope namespaces, types, and functions from the calling stylesheet or query. It does not include any variables from the calling environment. " What expression() says should be in scope: " It may contain calls on Java extension functions, including Saxon and EXSLT-defined functions (other than those which are restricted to use within stylesheets, for example the saxon:evaluate() function itself). But it does not allow access to stylesheet variables, stylesheet functions, or functions defined in the XSLT specification such as key() or format-number(). " Why the difference? Is there a technical obstacle to making eval(expression()) genuinely equivalent to evaluate()? Chapman Flack