Overview

To process SQL statements, the stored procedure process assigns a memory segment to store context association. Cursors are handles or pointers to context areas. With cursors, stored procedures can control alterations in context areas.

If JDBC is used to call a stored procedure whose returned value is a cursor, the returned cursor is not available.

Cursors are classified into explicit cursors and implicit cursors. Table 1 shows the usage conditions of explicit and implicit cursors for different SQL statements.

Table 1 Cursor usage conditions

SQL Statement

Cursor

Non-query statements

Implicit

Query statements with single-line results

Implicit or explicit

Query statements with multi-line results

Explicit
Parent topic: Cursors