How to give ref cursor in VB procedure call

Question

This is my Oracle Sp
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE CRD_DMAN.infy_usp_trades_by_broker_bkr
** Procedure name: CRD_DMAN.USP_TRADES_BY_BROKER
** Author's name: Infosys
** Date written: 04/11/07
** Description: Compliance Trade by Borker
** Maintenance history:
** Date Chg req# Name Remarks
** 04/11/07 Infosys Created
p_ordercursor IN OUT infy_pkg_compliance_transact.cur_compliancetrade,
p_startdate IN VARCHAR,
p_enddate IN VARCHAR,
p_fundcode IN cs_fund_config.parent_acct_cd%TYPE,
p_clientcode IN ts_order_alloc.acct_cd%TYPE,
p_brokercode IN ts_order_alloc.exec_broker%TYPE,
p_reportname IN report_log.report_name%TYPE,
p_callingapplication IN report_log.calling_application%TYPE,
p_callinguser IN report_log.calling_user%TYPE
IS
--Declaring Local Variables
v_owner VARCHAR2 (30);
v_startdate VARCHAR2 (10);
v_enddate VARCHAR2 (10);
v_rowcount NUMBER:=0;
v_logrec base_util_pkg.crd_log_record;
exp_error EXCEPTION;
v_fundcodevalue NUMBER;
BEGIN
BEGIN
/*checking if the start date and end date are null and
assigning the sysdate accordingly*/
IF (TRIM(p_startdate) IS NULL )
THEN
v_startdate := TO_CHAR (SYSDATE, 'mm/dd/yy');
ELSE
v_startdate := p_startdate;
END IF;
IF (TRIM(p_enddate) IS NULL )
THEN
v_enddate := TO_CHAR (SYSDATE, 'mm/dd/yy');
ELSE
v_enddate := p_enddate;
END IF;
/*checking if fund code is null and assigning value accordingly*/
IF TRIM (p_fundcode) IS NULL
THEN
v_fundcodevalue := 0;
ELSE
v_fundcodevalue := 1;
END IF;
/*checking if the reportname or calling user or calling
application name*/
IF (p_reportname IS NULL OR p_callinguser IS NULL
OR p_callingapplication IS NULL)
THEN
RAISE exp_error;
END IF;
END;
--opening and fetching the data into cursor
v_logrec.start_time := SYSDATE;
BEGIN
OPEN p_ordercursor
FOR
SELECT
oa.exec_broker EXEC_BROKER_CODE,
b.bkr_name          EXEC_BROKER_NAME,
oa.acct_cd CLIENT_CODE,
f.acct_name               CLIENT_NAME,
CASE WHEN (Exists (SELECT 1
                                   FROM cs_fund_broker fb
WHERE rel_typ_cd IN('P','M')
AND oa.exec_broker=fb.BKR_CD
                                   AND oa.acct_cd =fb.acct_cd))
               THEN 'Y'
ELSE 'N' END          DIRECTED_BROKER,
COUNT ( distinct o.order_id) COUNT_TICKNUM,
MAX (o.trade_date) TRADE_DATE,
SUM (oa.exec_amt)               BASE_COST,
SUM (oa.commision_amt)          TOTAL_COMMISSION,
     (SELECT ab.bkr_typ_cd FROM au_broker ab
     WHERE ab.au_change_date =(SELECT TO_TIMESTAMP(MAX(ab.au_change_date))
     FROM au_broker ab WHERE b.bkr_typ_cd != ab.bkr_typ_cd AND b.bkr_cd = ab.bkr_cd))
                              BROKER_HISTORY
FROM
ts_order o
JOIN ts_order_alloc oa ON (o.order_id = oa.order_id)
JOIN cs_broker b ON(oa.exec_broker = b.bkr_cd)
JOIN cs_fund f ON(oa.acct_cd = f.acct_cd)
WHERE
o.status = 'ACCT'
AND oa.exec_broker = CASE WHEN TRIM (p_brokercode) IS NULL
          THEN oa.exec_broker
          ELSE TRIM(p_brokercode) END
AND oa.acct_cd = CASE WHEN TRIM(p_clientcode) IS NULL
THEN oa.acct_cd
ELSE TRIM(p_clientcode) END
     AND ((0 = v_fundcodevalue) OR EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM crd.cs_fund_config cf
          WHERE cf.parent_acct_cd =TRIM (p_fundcode)
     AND oa.acct_cd = cf.child_acct_cd))
     AND o.trade_date BETWEEN TO_DATE (v_startdate, 'mm/dd/yy')
AND TO_DATE (v_enddate, 'mm/dd/yy')
GROUP BY oa.exec_broker, b.bkr_name ,oa.acct_cd ,f.acct_name,oa.directed_broker,b.bkr_typ_cd,b.bkr_cd;
END;
BEGIN
SELECT
owner
INTO
v_owner
FROM
all_objects
WHERE
object_name = 'INFY_USP_TRADES_BY_BROKER_BKR';
v_logrec.end_time := SYSDATE;
v_logrec.user_code := v_owner;
v_logrec.input_param_values := 'INFY_USP_TRADES_BY_BROKER_BKR,'
|| v_startdate
|| ','
|| v_enddate
|| ','
|| p_fundcode
|| ','
|| p_clientcode
|| ','
|| p_brokercode;
v_logrec.report_name := p_reportname;
v_logrec.object_name := 'INFY_USP_TRADES_BY_BROKER_BKR';
v_logrec.rows_returned := v_rowcount;
v_logrec.calling_application := p_callingapplication;
v_logrec.calling_user := p_callinguser;
END;
BEGIN
--calling the procedure to insert values into the report_log table
COMMIT;
SET TRANSACTION READ WRITE;
base_util_pkg.crd_base_util_proc (v_logrec);
SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY;
END;
EXCEPTION
WHEN exp_error
THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('ERROR');
WHEN OTHERS
THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ('ERROR OCCURED' || SQLCODE);
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line (SQLERRM);
END infy_usp_trades_by_broker_bkr;
END OF CRD_DMAN.USP_TRADES_BY_BROKER
This is my Pakage from where i am using ref cursor
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE CRD_DMAN.infy_pkg_compliance_transact
AS
** Package name : CRD.INFY_PKG_COMPLIANCE_TRANSACTIONS
** Author's name : Infosys
** Date written : 06/11/07
** Project/System : CRD
** Description : Compliance Trades By Borker Package
** Maintenance history:
** Date Chg req# Name Remarks
** 06/11/07 CRD Infosys Created
--Defining The ComplianceTrade Record DataType
TYPE rec_compliancetrade IS RECORD (
exec_broker_code crd.ts_order_alloc.exec_broker%TYPE,
exec_broker_name crd.cs_broker.bkr_name%TYPE,
client_code crd.ts_order_alloc.acct_cd%TYPE,
client_name crd.cs_fund.acct_name%TYPE,
directed_broker crd.ts_order_alloc.directed_broker%TYPE,
count_ticknum crd.ts_order.order_id%TYPE,
trade_date crd.ts_order.trade_date%TYPE,
base_cost crd.ts_order_alloc.cur_base_mkt_val%TYPE,
total_commission crd.ts_order_alloc.commision_amt%TYPE,
broker_history     crd.au_broker.bkr_typ_cd%TYPE
--Declaring a variable of rec_auditdata data type
TYPE cur_compliancetrade IS REF CURSOR
RETURN rec_compliancetrade;
END infy_pkg_compliance_transact;
END OF CRD.INFY_PKG_COMPLIANCE_TRANSACTIONS
How to call this SP from VB code with ref cursor parameter?

Answer 1

I'm fairly sure that's not possible, since there's nothing in the ODBC spec to allow for ref cursors. The driver has built in support to check for ref cursors that are returned via a stored procedure call, but there's nothing built into the driver to pass one IN. Since a ref cursor can't be constructed on the client side, you'd have to have some sort of structure that allowed you to reference the ref cursor directly in order to be able to pass one back to the database.
Since you're using VB.NET anyway, the better solution is probably just to use ODP.NET instead, which DOES allow you to reference a ref cursor directly, and there are samples that install with ODP.NET that show you how to do that.
Greg