Opening a Cursor

Once a cursor has been declared, it must be opened before it can be used. This is done using the OPEN statement, for example:

     EXEC SQL
         OPEN Cur1
     END-EXEC

If the DECLARE CURSOR statement references a prepared statement that contains parameter markers, the corresponding OPEN statement must specify the host variables or the name of an SQLDA structure that will supply the values for the parameter markers, for example:

     EXEC SQL
         OPEN Cur2 USING :last-name
     END-EXEC

If an SQLDA data structure is used, the data type, length, and address fields must already contain valid data when the OPEN statement is executed.

COBSQL

• When a cursor is opened, no locks are applied to the tables the data is being selected from.
• An Oracle database allows a cursor to be re-opened before it is closed such that the SELECT statement is re-evaluated. If the program has been compiled in ANSI mode, however, re-opening the cursor before it has been closed generates an error. For more information on the MODE precompiler directive, refer to the Programmer's Guide to the ORACLE Precompilers.