Functions

My question is:
In calling a function, do I always have to use the dual table? Example:
"select <funtion> into <variable> from dual" ?

Example:
Why can't I call a sequence.nextval into a variable via:

...

ret=s.nextval
..

This works:
......

ret number;
begin

   select s.nextval into ret from dual
......

Thanks
Stephan Received on Tue Feb 29 2000 - 04:40:49 CST