Re: SQL UDF to return one column from a row

Also, the external file is multi-use and contains descriptions and other
data for thousands of circumstances.

Could you be more specific about the layout of that file?

example: select CompanyNbr, ItemNbr, SupplierNbr,
GetSupplierName(CompanyNbr, ItemNbr, SupplierNbr) from ItemMaster

Given a function named GetSupplierName(), what is the purpose of passing
CompanyNbr and ItemNbr as opposed to just passing SupplierNbr?

It's not clear why an SQL join wouldn't work. I assume there's more to this
than meets the eye.

Your question caught my eye because I'm just now working a utility function
that returns any column from any file, given FileName, ColumnName, and
KeyValue.

rlaColGet(FileName, ColumnName, KeyValue);