I am currently learning F# and functional programming in general (from a C# background) and I have a question about using .net CLR objects during my processing.

The best way to describe my problem will be to give an example:

let xml = new XmlDocument() 
            |> fun doc -> doc.Load("report.xml"); doc

let xsl = new XslCompiledTransform()
            |> fun doc -> doc.Load("report.xsl"); doc

let transformedXml = 
    new MemoryStream()
        |> fun mem -> xsl.Transform(xml.CreateNavigator(), null, mem); mem

This code transforms an XML document with an XSLT document using .net objects. Note XslCompiledTransform.Load works on an object, and returns void. Also the XslCompiledTransform.Transform requires a memorystream object and returns void.

The above strategy used is to add the object at the end (the ; mem) to return a value and make functional programming work.

When we want to do this one after another we have a function on each line with a return value at the end:

let myFunc = 
  new XmlDocument("doc")
   |> fun a -> a.Load("report.xml"); a
   |> fun a -> a.AppendChild(new XmlElement("Happy")); a

Is there a more correct way (in terms of functional programming) to handle .net objects and objects that were created in a more OO environment?

The way I returned the value at the end then had inline functions everywhere feels a bit like a hack and not the correct way to do this.

Any help is greatly appreciated!