Let me rephrase the question.

I am familiar with other dialects of SQL, such as T-SQL, PL/SQL, and
FoxPro. In T-SQL, for example, I can bring up an IDE such as SSMSE or
Query Analyzer and execute the following:

DECLARE @i INT
SET @i = 1
PRINT @i

The IDE would give me a message: "1". (This is, of course, a
simplified example for purposes of discussion.)

Currently I am getting funds from my organization to buy a license to
IBExpress, so I can have a debugger. Until I can get that, I have to
resort to other means. I would like to do the same sort of thing as
above in PSQL:

DECLARE VARIABLE i INT
SET i = 1
PRINT i

The Script Executive of IBExpert does have a message area. It seems to
me that the value of i should appear there. It would be great if
FlameRobin would have this capability sometime, but I'm sure they have
plenty to work on as it is. If anyone has any suggestions about any
other tool, please let me know.

> There is also the option of creating an 'external table'. An external
> table is a file that firebird can treat as a limited table (no nulls,
> no indices, fixed length fields, create, insert, select or drop only,
> no transaction isolation, no rollback). You could insert into that
> table and select the value from a different iSQL client. That is
> probably the easiest but also the most limited.

Interesting. I'll keep that in mind.

Steve