Calling .NET Constructors

.NET class constructors are called by using the function named new(). If there are several constructors, then again the system tries to find the one that is the best fit, according to the types of the supplied arguments. The result of calling new() is an XPath value whose type is denoted by a QName whose local name is the actual .NET class (for example System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection or System.Collections.ArrayList) and whose namespace URI is http://saxon.sf.net/clitype. The only things that can be done with a wrapped .NET Object are to assign it to a variable, to pass it to an extension function, and to convert it to a string or boolean, using the rules given below.

The use of external object types in namespace http://saxon.sf.net/clitype reflects the .NET type hierarchy. For example, if a variable is declared to accept a type of net:System.Collections.IList, then a value of type net:System.Collections.ArrayList will be accepted, but a value of type net:System.Collections.HashTable will not.