[perl] How call function/procedure that returns SYS_REFCURSOR type?

Question

I've got some simple procedure which returns record(s):
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE "GET_SYS_DATE"
RESULTSET IN OUT SYS_REFCURSOR
IS
BEGIN
     OPEN RESULTSET FOR
          SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL;
END;
In perl i invoke it with somthing like this:
my $ret;
my $s= "BEGIN GET_SYS_DATE(:1); END;";
my $sth = $dbh->prepare($s);
$sth->bind_param_inout(1, \$ret, 0 { TYPE => XXX}); # tried to use many DBD::SQL_* types (SQL_ROW, SQL_REF, etc.)
$sth->execute(); #... but without luck
I always get:
DBD::ODBC::st execute failed: [Oracle][ODBC][Ora]ORA-06550: line 1, column 7:
PLS-00306: wrong number or types of arguments in call to 'GET_SYS_DATE'
ORA-06550: line 1, column 7:
PL/SQL: Statement ignored
Of course if i use other datatype in SP (e.g. VARCHAR2) and bind it as SQL_VARCHAR it works well... Moreover, if i use DBD::Oracle and bind it as ORA_RSET type it also works.
Is it possible that ODBC doesn't know SYS_REFCURSOR type? Then, is there any way to call SP and retrieve cursor from perl without using DBD::Oracle?
Or, if it is possible, then how to retrieve that cursor and data stored within it? Any help?

Answer 1

Hi,
I have not one eensy teensy bit of knowledge about PERL, other than how to spell it.
I do however, know about ref cursors, and ODBC, so maybe this will help.
ODBC has nothing for REF CURSOR built in. ODBC is made to the lowest common denoninator of databases, and a refcur is an Oracle thing. So, what that means is that you can't BIND anythign to the ref cursor, as there is no appropriate ODBC type to bind.
Does that mean you can't call a refcur via ODBC? No, it doesnt.
What happens is that Oracle's ODBC driver kinda "magically" goes out behind the scenes and describes the procedure or pacakge to determine if any of the parameters are ref cursors, and if so automatically sets up the bind for them.
Here's a complete working example using VB and ADO rather than PERL, but maybe you can port it over and get it working. Note that the proc takes two params, but we only bind one (for the IN number)
Hope it helps,
Greg
'create or replace package testrefcur as
'  type mycur is ref cursor;
' procedure getemps(dno in number, ecur out mycur);
' end;
'create or replace package body testrefcur as
'procedure getemps(dno in number, ecur out mycur) is
'  begin
'     open ecur for select * from emp where deptno = dno;
'  end;
'end;
Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim con As New ADODB.Connection
Dim cmd As New ADODB.Command
Dim rst As New ADODB.Recordset
strcnn = "dsn=orcl;uid=scott;pwd=tiger"
con.Open strcnn
cmd.CommandText = "{call testrefcur.getemps(?)}"
Set cmd.ActiveConnection = con
Set param1 = cmd.CreateParameter("param1", adNumeric, adParamInput, 4)
param1.Value = 10
param1.Precision = 4
cmd.Parameters.Append param1
Set rst = cmd.Execute  
While Not rst.EOF
strrslt = strrslt & rst.Fields("ename").Value & " "
rst.MoveNext
Wend
MsgBox strrslt
End Sub