[Zope] Calling a stored function with the Oracle DA

All, The "begin procedure (x, y, ..); end;" syntax works for procedures okay, but how do I call a function? The typical quick & dirty way in sqlplus is variable x number -- or whatever begin :x := function (a, b, ...); end; This function actually does updating, so I can't use the pragmas to make it acceptable in a select. Thanks, Jim