Oracle PL/SQL Programming: A Developer's Workbook

Chapter 12. Cursor Variables

Beginner

Q:
12-1.	Statement (b) describes a cursor variable. Rather than pointing directly or in a hardcoded way to a result set, a cursor variable is a pointer to a work area in the System Global Area (SGA).
Q:
12-2.	First, you must declare a cursor variable type, also known as a REF CURSOR. Then you declare a variable based on that cursor. The following is an example: DECLARE TYPE emp_t IS REF CURSOR RETURN emp%ROWTYPE; emp_cv emp_t;
Q:
12-3.	The declarations are: Valid. This format declares a type of REF CURSOR that is not tied to any specific format or result set; this is called a weak or nonrestrictive REF CURSOR. Invalid. Invalid. Valid. This format allows you to declare cursor variables that can fetch rows having the same format as the orders table; this is called a strong or restrictive REF CURSOR. Statements (b) and (c) are invalid. After the REF CURSOR keywords, you either have simply a semicolon or a RETURN rowtype clause, where rowtype is either a %ROWTYPE definition or the name of a previously defined record type.
Q:
12-4.	The declarations are: Valid. Only (a) is a valid cursor variable declaration based on the disasters_cvt REF CURSOR. Invalid. This declaration will fail to compile because of the %ROWTYPE attribute. A REF CURSOR type is already a type; you don’t need to %ROWTYPE it. Invalid. This declaration will compile, but it simply creates a record with the same structure as a row in the environmental_disaster table, not a cursor variable.
Q:
12-5.	Here is ...