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UNIVERSIDAD DE GUAYAQUIL
Carrera: SOftware
CURSORES

Docente: Ing. Juan Carlos Cedeño R.

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CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION of Cursors
2. Types of cursors
2.1 Implicit cursor
►Example
2.2 explicit cursor
►Example

3. cursor for loop

4. Parameterized cursor
5. COMPARISION
6. ADVANTAGES &DISADVANTAGES
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CURSOR ?
• A cursor is a temporary work area created in the system memory when a SQL statement is
executed.
• A cursor contains information on a select statement and the rows of data accessed by it.
• This temporary work area is used to store the data retrieved from the database, and
perform intermediate operations before output is displayed to the client.
• A cursor can hold more than one row, but can process only one row at a time.
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ORACLE
ORACLE ENGINE DATABASE

SQL ENGINE
QUERY
Data
Dictionary
PL/SQL
ENGINE Actual Data

CURSOR
-----Record pointer
OUTPUT Active Data Set
CLIENT
E101 abc Administration

E102 xyz Marketing

… … … …
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NEED FOR CURSORS?

We cannot use sub-programs of PL/SQL with a simple select statement to

retrieve more than one row.
SELECT statement in procedure returning 1 row
row
ORACLE processes procedure without error

SELECT statement in procedure returning more than 1 row

row 1
row 2 ORACLE returns error
row 3

So, PL/SQL requires a special compatibility to retrieve and process more than one row
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Cursor is a mechanism that provides a way to select multiple

rows of data from the database and then process each row
individually inside a PL/SQL program.

The cursor first points at row1 and once it is processed it then

advances to row2 and so on.
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TYPES OF CURSORS

IMPLICIT EXPLICIT

CURSORS
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Implicit cursors
● These are created by default when DML statements like,
INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements are executed.

● The user is not aware of this happening & will not be able
to control or process the information.

● When an implicit cursor is working, DBMS performs the

open, fetches and close automatically
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Attribute Description
Name
%ISOPEN Returns TRUE if cursor is open, FALSE if cursor is closed.
SQL%ISOPEN always returns FALSE.
%FOUND Returns TRUE if successful fetch has been
executed, FALSE if no row was returned.
SQL%FOUND is used to access it.

%NOTFOUN Return TRUE if no row was returned, FALSE if

D successful fetch has been executed.
SQL%NOTFOUND is used to access it.

%ROWCOU Returns the number of rows affected by the query.

NT SQL%ROWCOUNT is used to access it.
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EXAMPLE:
Write a pl/sql program to update the salary of customers by Rs 500. EXAMPLE:
Select * from customers;

+‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22| MP | 4500.00 |
+‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+
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DECLARE
total_rows number(2);
BEGIN
UPDATE customers
SET salary = salary + 500;
IF sql%notfound THEN
dbms_output.put_line('no customers selected');
ELSIF sql%found THEN
total_rows := sql%rowcount;
dbms_output.put_line( total_rows || ‘customers selected ');
END IF;
END;
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Result:
6 customers selected
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Select * from customers;

+‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2500.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 2000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2500.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 7000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 9000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 5000.00 |
+‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐+
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Explicit cursors
• Explicit cursors are programmer defined cursors
for gaining more control over the context area.

An explicit cursor should be defined in the

declaration section of the PL/SQL Block.

• It is created on a SELECT Statement which

returns more than one row.
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Attribute Description
Name
%ISOPEN Returns TRUE if cursor is open, FALSE if cursor is closed.
CursorName%ISOPEN is used to access it.

%FOUND Returns TRUE if successful fetch has been

executed, FALSE if no row was returned.
CursorName%FOUND is used to access it.

%NOTFOUN Return TRUE if no row was returned, FALSE if

D successful fetch has been executed.
CursorName%NOTFOUND is used to access it.

%ROWCOU Returns the number of rows affected by the query.

NT CursorName%ROWCOUNT is used to access it.
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Explicit cursor involves four steps:

1.Declaring the cursor for initializing in the memory

2.Opening the cursor for allocating memory

3.Fetching the cursor for retrieving data

4.Closing the cursor to release allocated memory

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STEPS:
No

Yes
DECLARE OPEN FETCH CLOSE

• Create a • Identify the • Load the • Test for existing • Release the
named SQL active set current row into rows active set
area variables
• Return to
FETCH if rows
found
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Cursor Declaration:
• Declared as a variable in the same way as standard
variables

• Identified as cursor type

• SQL included

E.g. CURSOR cur_emp IS

SELECT emp_id, name, grade
FROM employee;
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Open the cursor

Defines a private SQL area named
after the cursor name.
Pointer Executes the query associated with
Cursor the cursor.

Creates the Active Data Set.

Sets the cursor row pointer in the

Active Data Set to the first record.
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Fetch
Pointer

Cursor

Open the cursor.

Fetch a row from the cursor. Fetch statement is placed inside a

Loop … End Loop construct.
Cursor Pointer It takes the data into memory
variables and process them one by
one.
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Open the cursor.

Pointer

Cursor
Fetch a row from the cursor.

Pointer
Cursor

Continue until empty.

Loop is continued until Active
Pointer Data Set becomes empty
Cursor
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Close
Open the cursor.
Pointer

Cursor
Fetch a row from the cursor.

Pointer
Cursor

Continue until empty.

Pointer

Cursor

Close the cursor. After the FETCH loop exits, the cursor must
be closed by Close statement.
Cursor
Releases the used memory.
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Declaring the Cursor

Syntax:
CURSOR cursor_name IS select_statement;
For example:
CURSOR c_customers IS
SELECT id, name, address FROM customers;

Opening the Cursor

Syntax:
OPEN cursor_name;
Example:
OPEN c_customers;
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Fetching the Cursor

Fetching the cursor involves accessing one row at a time.

Syntax:
FETCH cursor_name INTO record_name;
Example:
FETCH c_customers INTO c_id, c_name, c_addr;

Closing the Cursor

Closing the cursor means releasing the allocated memory.

Syntax:
CLOSE cursor_name;
Example:
CLOSE c_customers;
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EXAMPLE:
DECLARE
c_id customers.id%type;
c_name customers.name%type;
c_addr customers.address%type;
CURSOR c_customers IS SELECT id, name, address FROM customers;
BEGIN
OPEN c_customers;
LOOP
FETCH c_customers into c_id, c_name, c_addr;
EXIT WHEN c_customers%notfound;
dbms_output.put_line(c_id || ' ' || c_name || ' ' || c_addr);
END LOOP;
CLOSE c_customers;
END;
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RESULT:
1 Ramesh Ahmedabad
2 Khilan Delhi
3 kaushik Kota
4 Chaitali Mumbai
5 Hardik Bhopal
6 Komal MP

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

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Example 2:

The bank manager has decided to mark all those accounts as inactive (I) on
which there are no transactions performed in the last 365 days. Whenever any
such update takes place, a record for the same is maintained in the
INACTIVE_ACCT_MSTR table comprising of the account number, the
opening date and the type of account. Write a PL/SQL block to do the same.

Tables:

ACCT_MSTR(AcctNo, FName, LName, OpenDt, Type, Bal, Status);

TRANS_MSTR(AcctNo, Dt, OpPerformed, Amt);

INACTIVE_ACCT_MSTR(AcctNo, OpenDt, Type);

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DECLARE
CURSOR Crsr_NoTrans IS
SELECT AcctNo, Status, OpenDt, Type FROM ACCT_MSTR
WHERE AcctNo IN (SELECT AcctNo FROM TRANS_MSTR
GROUP BY AcctNo HAVING MAX(SYSDATE-Dt)>365);

str_AcctNo ACCT_MSTR.AcctNo%type;
str_Status ACT_MSTR.Status%type;
dt_OpenDt ACCT_MSTR.OpenDt%type;
str_Type ACCT_MSTR.Type%type;

BEGIN
OPEN Crsr_NoTrans;

IF Crsr_NoTrans%ISOPEN THEN
LOOP
FETCH Crsr_NoTrans INTO str_AcctNo, str_Status, dt_OpenDt, str_type;
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EXIT WHEN Crsr_NoTrans%NOTFOUND;

IF Crsr_NoTrans%FOUND THEN
UPDATE ACCT_MSTR SET Status=‘I’ WHERE AcctNo=str_AcctNo;

END IF;
END LOOP;

ELSE
dbms_output.put_line(‘Unable to open cursor’);
END IF;

CLOSE Crsr_NoTrans;
END;
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Cursor for loop

CURSOR FOR LOOP is used when you want to fetch and

process every record in a cursor. The CURSOR FOR
LOOP will terminate when all of the records in the cursor
have been fetched.
SYNTAX

FOR record_index in cursor_name

LOOP {...statements...}
END LOOP;
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EXAMPLE:
DECLARE
CURSOR c1
IS SELECT last_name, job_id FROM employee job_id LIKE '%CLERK%'
AND manager_id > 120
ORDER BY last_name;
BEGIN
FOR item IN c1
LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE ('Name = ' || item.last_name || ', Job = ' ||
item.job_id);
END LOOP;
END;
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RESULT:

Name = Atkinson, Job = ST_CLERK

Name = Bell, Job = SH_CLERK
Name = Bissot, Job = ST_CLERK
...
Name = Walsh, Job = SH_CLERK
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Parameterized Cursors:
Parameterized cursor pass the parameters into a cursor and
use them in to query.

Define only datatype of parameter and not need to define

it's length.

We can only pass values to the cursor and cannot pass

values out of the cursor through parameters.

The scope of the cursor parameters is local to the cursor

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Syntax :
CURSOR cursor_name (parameter_list) IS
SELECT_statement;

For example:
CURSOR c2 (subject_id_in IN varchar) IS
SELECT course_number
FROM courses_tbl
WHERE subject_id = subject_id_in;

The result set of this cursor is all course_numbers whose

subject_id matches the subject_id passed to the cursor via the
parameter.
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COMPARISION:

•Explicit cursor must be created when you are executing a SELECT statement that
returns more than one row.

• NO_DATA_FOUND and TOO_MANY_ROWS exceptions are not raised when

using explicit cursors, as opposed to implicit cursors.

•With explicit cursors, you have complete control over how to access information
in the database.

•Implicit cursors require anonymous buffer memory. Explicit cursors can be

executed again and again by using their name.
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ADVANTAGES:

•Using Cursor we can perform row by row processing .

• we can perform row wise validation or operations on each

row.

•Allow application to access and move around in a set of data

rows, rather then merely retrieve a complete result set.
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Disadvantages:

➢Uses more resources

➢Speed and performance issues.

➢Increased network roundtrip.

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References:

1. SQL, PL/SQL by Ivan Bayross.

2. www.wikipedia.com.
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