Fetch from cursor when no records returned

Question

Hi,
I've got the following question / problem?
When I do a fetch from a cursor in my for loop and the cursor returns no record my variable 'r_item' keeps the value of the previous fetched record. Shouldn't it contain null if no record is found and I do a fetch after I closed and opend the cursor? Is there a way the clear the variable before each fetch?
Below you find an example code
CURSOR c_item (itm_id NUMBER) IS
SELECT DISTINCT col1 from table1
WHERE id = itm_id;
r_item  c_item%ROWTYPE;
FOR r_get_items IN c_get_items LOOP
  IF r_get_items.ENABLE = 'N' THEN       
      open c_item(r_get_items.ITMID);
      fetch c_item into r_item;
      close c_item;
      IF  r_item.ACCES = 'E' then
           action1
      ELSE                 
           action2
      END IF;
  END IF;
END LOOP;  Thanx

Answer 1

DECLARE
    CURSOR c_dept IS
      SELECT d.deptno
      ,      d.dname
      ,      d.loc
      ,      CURSOR (SELECT empno
                     ,      ename
                     ,      job
                     ,      hiredate
                     FROM   emp e
                     WHERE  e.deptno = d.deptno)
      FROM   dept d;
    TYPE refcursor IS REF CURSOR;
    emps refcursor;
    deptno dept.deptno%TYPE;
    dname dept.dname%TYPE;
    empno emp.empno%TYPE;
    ename emp.ename%TYPE;
    job emp.job%TYPE;
    hiredate emp.hiredate%TYPE;
    loc dept.loc%TYPE;
BEGIN
   OPEN c_dept;
   LOOP
     FETCH c_dept INTO deptno, dname, loc, emps;
     EXIT WHEN c_dept%NOTFOUND;
     DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('Department : ' || dname);
     LOOP
       FETCH emps INTO empno, ename, job, hiredate;
       EXIT WHEN emps%NOTFOUND;
       DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('-- Employee : ' || ename);
     END LOOP;
  END LOOP;
  CLOSE c_dept;
END;
/like this...