sub get_transactions
{
  my $transactions_id = shift;
  
  my $sql = <<EOSQL # the sql part works
EOSQL
  my $ar = $dbh->selectall_arrayref( $sql, undef, $transactions_id );
  my %transactions;
  for ( @$ar )
  {
    my ($date, $type, $amount, $new_balance) = @$_;
    %{$transactions{$date}} = ('Date' => $date, 'Type' => $type, 'Amount' => $amount, 'Ending_balance' => $new_balance);
  }
  return %transactions;
}