There are two problems with your second example:
1. You should specify field size when calling the function, e.g.
select 0000+GetExpendituresBySubelement(elementnum) as expended
2. Secondly, (more important) it is risky to change active work area within the function while running select-SQL, i.e. this code is not reliable.


>This function
>

>function GetExpendituresBySubElement
>lparameters lnSubElement
>local lnOldWorkArea, lnRetVal
>dimension lnRetval(1)
>lnOldWorkArea = select(0)
>
>select  sum(amount) ;
>from tip ;
>inner join ledger on ledger.tip_id = tip.tip_id and source="RTA" ;
>where val(substr(sponsor_id,5,2)) = lnSubelement;
>into Array lnRetVal
>
>select(lnOldWorkArea)
>return iif(isnull(lnRetVal),0,lnRetVal)
>

>seems to work OK when called with a single value like this
>

>? GetExpendituresBySubelement(2)
>

>But when embedded in another select like this
>

>select *, GetExpendituresBySubelement(elementnum) as expended ;
>from rta_elements ;
>order by elementnum
>

>I get only 0's and *'s. Can someone please explain?
>
>Thanks