You cannot declare a cursor variable in a package specification. Is it possible to have a plsql procedure that has dynamic sql and uses a ref cursor. Defining cursor variables ref cursor return clause. The easy way to send a ref cursor to plsql with odp. Are cursor variable and ref cursor connected to each other. A cursor holds the rows returned by the sql statement. Different types of cursors in plsql oracle live sql. Using plsql stored procedures and ref cursors oracle docs. Different from implicit and explicit cursors, a cursor variable is not tied to any specific query. We could use any cursor variable, a variable of type ref cursor, or output parameter from a.
That is, a package cannot have a public cursor variable a cursor variable that can be referenced from outside the package. Oracle creates context area for processing an sql statement which contains all information about the statement. For can be replaced by is for oracle compatibility. A ref cursor which has fixed return type is called a strong ref cursor in oracle database. Declaring a cursor variable creates a pointer, not.
As such it went into a loop, fetching each row of data from the database, using the ref cursor as its reference pointer to the relevant query, and displaying each row of data until it had no more rows to fetch. In essence, a ref cursor is a pointer or a handle to a result set on the database. An explicit cursor is a select statement that is declared in the declare section of a program. There is no need to declare a c1 type for a weakly typed ref cursor. There are several ways to return query results from an oracle database to a client application, using oracle data provider for. There is no real difference, in fact, deep down in the data dictionary, we have this definition. You do this so that oracle will then prepare your sql statement before running your program.
Hi, i need to write a procedure which has a cursor that stores the list of table names. To read more about ref cursor i have created a package to explain few different ref cursor examples. Can you show an example of a ref cursor with dynamic sql. Using ref cursors is one of the most powerful, flexible, and scalable ways to return query results from an oracle database to a client application a ref cursor is a plsql data type whose value is the memory address of a query work area on the database. If you are going to open a cursor, you have to fetch from it in a loop and you have to close it. Because of fixed return type, strong ref cursors can only be used selectively. When a ref cursor is opened, no data is initially returned to the client. You cannot define the same cursor more than stead you can only use it. Oracle holds all relevant information about sql and variables in the context area. This book includes scripts and tools to hypercharge oracle 11g performance and you can buy it. The set of rows the cursor holds is referred as active set. Developers and dbas get help from oracle experts on. You cant open and close it but then fetch from it in an implicit cursor loop.
Cursor cursor is one of the fundamental feature of oracle. Oracle advanced plsql professional guide focuses on advanced features of oracle. Meaning that a cursor variable can be opened for any query. Create sql baseline from cursor cache in oracle dbaclass. A cursor variable is a variable that references to a cursor.
We are free to use this ref cursor type as parameters for our subroutines and return type for the functions without needing to create them in a package specification, as it is already done by oracle for us. Name of the cursor variable that you are declaring. Every cursor variable must be opened with an associated select statement as follows. A cursor variable is a pointer that distinguishes the current row in a resultset from a multirow query. Cursor variables are subject to these restrictions. What is the difference between a normal cursor and a ref. So far in this series we have covered the concepts of strong as well as weak ref cursor. In oracle 11g, you may use the same block along with a ref cursor bind variable. Using cursor variables ref cursors what are cursor variables ref cursors. Declare varchar2 variables of 4000 or more characters. Ask tom fetch ref cursor to another ref cursor oracle.
This article demonstrates a few simple ways to display the contents of ref cursors. You cannot store the value of a cursor variable in a collection or database column. As we learnt in the introduction to the ref cursor that there are three types of plsql ref cursor in oracle database. To create a cursor variable, define a ref cursor type, and then declare the cursor variable to be of that type.
How to get rows value as header with summary information. Implicit cursors, based on number of rows affected by the cursors, can be categorized as single row implicit cursors and multiple row implicit cursors. Plsql cursor variables with ref cursor oracle tutorial. Implicit statement results in oracle database 12c release 1 12.
The second one should store all values from an attribute from all the tables which are in the first one. Free oracle magazine subscriptions and oracle white papers. The final output of the procedure should be the list of table names which contains the required codes. You can use these free online tutorials as your guide to practice, learn, for training, or reference while programming with pl sql. Plsql concepts validated up to oracle 11g release 1.
This example demonstrates how to define and open a ref cursor. For instance with those select statements that return the result whose datatype matches with the one that you have fixed during cursor s declaration. Sqlplus looked at the ref cursor and saw that it was an open cursor. Oracle provides the for update clause of the select statement in an updatable cursor to perform this kind of locking mechanism. Our technologist takes another look at oracle database 11g. You can use %type to provide the data type of a record variable. When we opened the cursor, we did not pass any arguments. You associate a select statement with an explicitlydeclared cursor. Using plsql stored procedures and ref cursors oracle.
Creating a plsql stored procedure that uses ref cursors. Net to create powerful, flexible, and scalable applications. Get the complete oracle sql tuning information the landmark book advanced oracle sql tuning the definitive reference is filled with valuable information on oracle sql tuning. Oracle 11g identifies a different categorization basis of implicit cursors. Last issue, i wrote about some new oracle database 11g features, and i continue that coverage in this issue, focusing on my favorite procedural language, plsql. Strong ref cursors with table based record datatype. Introduction to plsql ref cursors in oracle database. The advantage that a ref cursor has over a plain cursor is that is can be passed as a variable to a procedure or a function. Cursor variables have several advantages over explicit cursors including. Introduction to oracle 11g cursors eye on databases. We need to loop the cursor and for each table name it should look for a code in that particular table.
There is no need for a user defined type unless defining strong type ref cursors the usage of which is debatable in plsql. For information about strong and weak ref cursor types, see creating cursor variables. A ref cursor is a variable, defined as a cursor type, which will point to, or reference a cursor result. A ref cursor is a reference to a result set that resides in server memory. In contrast, explicit cursors are tied to individual queries. Plsql allows the programmer to control the context area through the cursor. It is a plsql datatype using which you can declare a special type of variable called cursor variable. Limitations of ref cursor variable oracle community. Cursor variables based on strong and weak ref cursor types create or. For example, the assignment in example 38 using a ref is not allowed.
Now, you should know how to use a plsql cursor with parameters to fetch data from the database tables. Ian abramson, michael abbey, michelle malcher, michael corey. Part 12 in a series of articles on understanding and using plsql. Cursor variables can point to a variety of queries provided the queries have a suitable return type. Also, in the return clause of a ref cursor type definition, you can use %rowtype to specify a record type that represents a row returned by a strongly not weakly typed cursor variable. You cant mix implicit and explicit cursor calls like this. A ref cursor that specifies a specific return type. Application development tools such as oracle forms, which have a plsql engine, can use cursor variables entirely on the client side. Once you define a ref cursor type, you can declare cursor variables of that type. To create cursor variables, you define a ref cursor type, then declare cursor variables of that type. In this example, we declared a parameterized cursor with default values. Here is the syntax for declaring an updatable cursor.
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