Must I use OracleCallableStatement to process a REFCURSOR?

Question

Oracle 10g Rel 2 using latest Oracle thin drivers on a Java 1.5 application.
I'm in the process of porting our existing application to Oracle, but for the next several months, I must support multiple databases (SQL Server, DB2) with the same codeline. Our db access layer is stored procs wrapped in CallableStatements whereby a vast majority returns a result set. I very much need to continue to use existing java.sql.CallableStatements and resultSets.
A typical stored proc looks like this:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE getMeData
v_c_columnname IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL ,
v_intSort IN NUMBER DEFAULT 0 ,
cv_1 IN OUT SYS_REFCURSOR
AS
BEGIN
OPEN cv_1 FOR
SELECT col1,
col2,
col3
FROM someTable
WHERE somecolumn = v_c_columnname ;
END;
We currently abstract the stored proc calls by doing a check on which db platform, then wrapping them with either EXEC or CALL and constructing the proc call for the target RDBMS.
My first question is, is there a way for me to handle/process the return REFCURSOR in vanilla java.sql.Callable statement/ResultSets, or must I use oracle.jdbc.CallableStatment (and register the out cursor type (ie, cStmt.registerOutParameter(3, OracleTypes.CURSOR)?
Second question - I'm currently testing with the OracleCallableStatement, but my cStmt.execute is simply skipping the execute call - I know its constructed properly, and when I call via pl/sql with binds, it returns properly, so am I missing something in how to process the REFCURSOR? It's not failing with an Oracle error, it's just not executing.
This is the call:
begin getMeData(?,?,?); end;
Last question - must one use a REFCURSOR to return a result set via PL/SQL stored procs, or is there another way?
TIA

Answer 1

So, a bit confused. In the JDBC examples I've seen for refcursors, I see the following:
CallableStatement stmt = connection.prepareCall("{? = call demo_refcursor.getRefCursor }");
// Set the Out Parameter type to be of type CURSOR
stmt.registerOutParameter(1, OracleTypes.CURSOR);
stmt.execute(); // Execute the statement
// Cast the returned parameter, (defined as type OracleTypes.CURSOR) to
// a JDBC result-set.
resultSet = (ResultSet)stmt.getObject(1);
Where the call is in the format of {? = call myProc(?,?)}.
Is the first ? (?= call) the registered out parameter? Am I understanding that correctly? If so, and my procedure looks something like this:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE getMeData
v_c_columnname IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL ,
v_intSort IN NUMBER DEFAULT 0 ,
cv_1 IN OUT SYS_REFCURSOR
AS
BEGIN
OPEN cv_1 FOR
SELECT col1,
col2,
col3
FROM someTable
WHERE somecolumn = v_c_columnname ;
END;
... where the refcursor is actually the third param, how do I make sure the ? = call is the refcursor param? Am I totally missing something here? I am a bit rusty, so forgive me if this is obvious and I'm just missing it..