How to raise application error and preserve open cursor...

Question

Hello,
I have to raise an application error under certain circumstances.
In some cases there's an open cursor that has to be read by the calling application anyway because there are data that have to be read.
In other cases the cursor does not have to be read.
sample code:
create or replace procedure get_address(
pv_street varchar2,
pv_number varchar2,
pr_retid in out number,
pr_refcurs in out get_streetpkg.t_refcurs )
v_rowcount number;
v_no_suiting_number boolean := false;
begin
delete temp_addr;
-- get suiting rows
insert into temp_addr
select * from addr
where street like pv_street
and number like pv_number;
v_rowcount := sql%rowcount;
-- if no suiting row found then get all
-- suiting streets regardless of number
if v_rowcount = 0 then
v_no_suiting_number := true;
insert into temp_addr
select * from addr
where street like pv_street;
end if;
-- check whether data has been found
select count(*)
into v_rowcount
from temp_addr;
-- set return id if only one row is found.
if v_rowcount = 1 then
select id from temp_addr
into pr_retid;
end if;
-- open cursor to provide data
open pr_refcurs for
select * from temp_addr;
-- generate error - if no data found at all
-- no data has to be read...
if v_rowcount = 0 then
raise_application_error( -20001, 'no data found' );
end if;
-- generate error - or better notification - message if no number found...
-- SELECTED ROWS HAVE TO BE READ ANYWAY!!!
if v_no_suiting_number then
raise_application_error( -20002, 'streets found, but no suiting number' );
end if;
return;
end;
Prerequisites:
- The calling application reads the open cursor and closes it.
- The application cannot provide additional arguments and the stored proc cannot be converted into a stored func.
- I cannot put the procedure into a package.
- The application has to get information about success or failure (and reason of failure) through provided error numbers (-20999..-20000).
Whenever the error is raised and pr_retid was set, retid is not set in the application, neither is the cursor.
So what can I do to provide return ID and row data???
Hope anyone can help me.
Greetings, Heiko Kaschube
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Answer 1

Sorry, I didn't read your list of pre-requisites carefully enough. Your problem is that prerequiste #4 (return Application Error number) is in flat contradiction with prerequisite #1 (calling application continues processing).
To restate: RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR means "the called program has encountered a problem so please cease processing and handle the error". Using RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR prevents the calling program doing any more processing: control goes to the EXCEPTION handler. Therefore RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR should only be used for abnormal processing conditions.
I fail to see why you want to use RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR to handle a situation which is quite obviously not an application error: your called program has found some data that you want to process.
yours in puzzlement, APC