>This should be easy for seasoned c/s pros but I have problem getting around it. In MSSQL, columns that appear in the select list "must be" used as arguments of an aggregate function in the GROUP BY clause. For example, in VFP you could do this:
>
>SELECT table1.*, table2.field1, table2.field2, table2.field3
> FROM table1 JOIN table2 ON table1.fieldx=table2.fieldx
> GROUP BY table2.field2
>
>But you can't do this with MSSQL. How do I get around this "feature"?

You do not.

Why use a GROUP BY in the example you gave? There are no aggregated fields, so there's no reason to group by anything. If it's just to get a count of the distinct items in Field2, then the other fields are really extraneous, since the data will be meaningless anyway.

For aggregated fields, it really makes sense to enforce this, if you think about it.

e.g. if you have the following data

Field1   Field2   Field3   Field4
---------------------------------
Hello    World    Bob      54
Hello    World    Fred     89
Howdy    Pard     John     47

** VFP allowed
SELECT field1, field2, field3, SUM(field4) AS field4 ;
  FROM table ;
  GROUP BY field1, field2 ;
  INTO CURSOR cuSum

** result set
Field1   Field2   Field3   Field4
---------------------------------
Hello    World    ID1      143
Bert     Ernie    ID3      47

Since you wouldn't know that Field3 really had a different value for one of the records involved, Field3 contains meaningless information. If Field3 really is meaningless information, it should not be included in the field list; otherwise, it should be included in the GROUP BY as well.