Stored procedure with cursor as output param

Question

It's the first time for me to test a stored procedure with a cursor as output parameter. I executed the following:
SQL> VARIABLE user_cur REFCURSOR; VARIABLE ret_code VARCHAR2; exec TEST_API.SEARCH_USER( :ret_code, '', '', 'john', '', :user_cur); print ret_code;print user_cur;
I got the following error:
Usage: VAR[IABLE] [ <variable> [ NUMBER | CHAR | CHAR (n [CHAR|BYTE]) |
VARCHAR2 (n CHAR) | NCHAR | NCHAR (n) |
NVARCHAR2 (n) | CLOB | NCLOB | REFCURSOR ] ]
May I know what's the problem?
The purpose of the stored procedure is to search for user with the name "john".
The stored procudure input/output params declaration is as follows:
PROCEDURE SEARCH_USER
RETURN_CODE OUT VARCHAR2,
USER_ID_IN IN VARCHAR2,
POSITION_IN IN VARCHAR2,
USERNAME_IN IN VARCHAR2,
STATUS_IN IN VARCHAR2,
USER_CUR_OUT OUT REFCURSOR
Edited by: user7383310 on Oct 19, 2008 9:05 PM
Edited by: user7383310 on Oct 19, 2008 9:05 PM

Answer 1

for the usage of refcursors in pl/sql refer here..
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B14117_01/appdev.101/b10807/06_ora.htm#sthref808
You can code like..
SQL> create or replace procedure p1(id number,csr out sys_refcursor) is
  2  begin
  3   open csr for select ename from emp where deptno = id;
  4  end;
  5  /
Procedure created.
SQL> var csr1 refcursor
SQL> var n number
SQL> exec :n := 30;
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> exec p1(:n,:csr1);
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> print csr1
ENAME
ALLEN
WARD
MARTIN
BLAKE
TURNER
JAMES
6 rows selected.