TYPE REF CURSOR

Question

I have two packages (please see below). A procedure from the first package (TEST1) calls a procedure in the second package (TEST2), which has an output parameter of REF CURSOR TYPE.
I am getting an error at compile time, in the calling procedure.
Can anyone please help on finding out what am I missing here?
Thank you in advance.
- Ketan Bhuptani
Here are the procedures:
(1)
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE TEST1
AS
TYPE cursor_type_pass IS REF CURSOR;
PROCEDURE call_cursor (result_flag OUT varchar2);
END TEST1;
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY TEST1
AS
PROCEDURE call_cursor (result_flag OUT varchar2) IS
v_salary int;
proc_cursor cursor_type_pass;
CURSOR emp_cur is select empid from emp;
BEGIN
FOR emp_cur_var IN emp_cur
LOOP
test2.open_cursor(emp_cur_var.empid, proc_cursor);
v_salary := proc_cursor.salary;
     -- getting an error Invalid reference to variable proc_cursor at this line
END LOOP;
END call_cursor;
END TEST1;
(2)
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE TEST2
AS
TYPE cursor_type_return IS REF CURSOR;
PROCEDURE open_cursor (emp_id IN varchar2, out_cur OUT cursor_type_return);
END TEST2;
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY TEST2
AS
PROCEDURE open_cursor (emp_id IN varchar2, out_cur OUT cursor_type_return) IS
BEGIN
OPEN out_cur FOR
select location, salary from emp_information where empid = emp_id;
END open_cursor;
END TEST2;
create table emp_information
(location varchar2(30), salary int, empid varchar2(10));
create table emp
(empid varchar2(10));

Answer 1

Your scenario is not very clear to me, but let us do some test coding here, see if it helps you,SQL> create or replace package test_pkg1 as
  2  TYPE cursor_type1 IS REF CURSOR;
  3  procedure proc1;
  4  end;
  5  /
Package created.
SQL> create or replace package test_pkg2 as
  2  TYPE cursor_type2 IS REF CURSOR;
  3  procedure proc2(pCur IN OUT cursor_type2);
  4  end;
  5  /
Package created.
SQL> create or replace package body test_pkg2 as
  2  procedure proc2(pCur IN OUT cursor_type2) is
  3  begin
  4      open pCur for SELECT ename from  my_emp;
  5  end;
  6  end;
  7  /
Package body created.
SQL> create or replace package body test_pkg1 as
  2  procedure proc1 is
  3  vRefCur    cursor_type1;
  4  vEname     VARCHAR2(20);
  5  vRefCur2   test_pkg2.cursor_type2;
  6  begin
  7    test_pkg2.proc2(vRefCur); -- this is possible, but I do not like it.
  8    vRefCur2 := vRefCur; -- you can also do this, but you have no reason to do this
  9    loop
10      fetch vRefCur2 into vEname;
11      exit when vRefCur2%NOTFOUND;
12      dbms_output.put_line(vEname);
13    end loop;
14    close vRefCur2;
15  end;
16  end;
17  /
Package body created.
SQL> exec test_pkg1.proc1;
SMITH
ALLEN
WARD
JONES
MARTIN
BLAKE
CLARK
SCOTT
KING
TURNER
ADAMS
JAMES
FORD
MILLER
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
Let us make it simple,
SQL> create or replace package body test_pkg1 as
  2  procedure proc1 is
  3  vRefCur    cursor_type1;
  4  vEname     VARCHAR2(20);
  5  --vRefCur2   test_pkg2.cursor_type2;
  6  begin
  7    test_pkg2.proc2(vRefCur);
  8    --vRefCur2 := vRefCur;
  9    loop
10      fetch vRefCur into vEname;
11      exit when vRefCur%NOTFOUND;
12      dbms_output.put_line(vEname);
13    end loop;
14    close vRefCur;
15  end;
16  end;
17  /
Package body created.
SQL> exec test_pkg1.proc1;
SMITH
ALLEN
WARD
JONES
MARTIN
BLAKE
CLARK
SCOTT
KING
TURNER
ADAMS
JAMES
FORD
MILLER
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.You can play with it number of different ways.
Let me know what questions and we will take it from there.
Thx,
SriDHAR