4GL RUN command question

Within a 4GL program, I want to run a shell script which will calculate an integer value. I then want to read that integer value into the 4GL program. Is it possible to read that value using the "RUN shell_script RETURNING integer_variable" command? I've also thought of setting a value in a shell environment variable in the shell script and then reading the value using fgl_getenv(), but since the shell_script is a child process, I didn't think I could set a shell environment variable of the parent process (the 4GL program). A third way I've thought of is to place the integer variable in an ASCII file, then using the LOAD command, load the value into a temporary table. This is not the most elegant way of getting that value, but it will work. Does anyway know of a better way? Thanks in advance, Candy -- Candy McCall ONLINE Computing, Inc. (candym@olcinc.com)