WHILE Loop - NEW TO ORACLE & SQL

Question

I was assigned a task to loop through an organization heirachy drill until a certain a value is reached. What I mean by this is that I have to select three fields from a ORGN table to find the correct ORGN_CODE: ORGN_CODE, ORGN_CODE_PRED, ORGN_ID.
I need to be able to check if ORGN_ID = 'CONVERT'.
If it is true, then I need run another select statement where ORGN_CODE_PRED = ORGN_CODE. Then I check if ORGN_ID = 'CONVERT' again. Eventually, ORGN_ID <> 'CONVERT' and I have successfully drilled down to the correct ORGN_CODE Level. I'll then need to create a new field and insert the value into a table
I can run a basic query but when it comes to this functionality, I'm rather new. Here is my select statement to bring in the data the first time.
select ftvorgn_orgn_code as ORG_CODE,
ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred as PREDECESSOR,
ftvorgn_user_id as NEXT_PREDESSOR
from ftvorgn
The way "I think" I need to do this is like this:
Declare
MyORG Integer
MyValue Char(10)
Declare ORG_CURSOR for
select ftvorgn_orgn_code as ORG_CODE,
ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred as PREDECESSOR,
ftvorgn_user_id as NEXT_PREDESSOR
from ftvorgn
Declare NEW_ORG_CURSOR for
select ftvorgn_orgn_code as ORG_CODE,
ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred as PREDECESSOR,
ftvorgn_user_id as NEXT_PREDESSOR
from ftvorgn
where ftvorgn_orgn_code = MyORG
Open ORG_CURSOR
Fetch Next from ORG_CURSOR
WHILE (NOT SURE WHAT GOES HERE)
Begin
If NEXT_PREDECESSOR = 'CONVERT'
set MyORG = ORGN_CODE
set MyValue = 'CU'||ORGN_CODE
{Have to work on code to insert into table}
ELSE
set MyORG = ORGN _CODE
Open NEW_ORG_CURSOR
Fetch Next from NEW_ORG_CURSOR
WHILE (NOT SURE WHAT GOES HERE)
Begin
If NEXT_PREDECESSOR = 'CONVERT'
set MyORG = ORGN_CODE
set MyValue = 'CU'||ORGN_CODE
{Have to work on code to insert into table}
Else
set MyORG = ORGN _CODE
Open NEW_ORG_CURSOR
Fetch Next from NEW_ORG_CURSOR
End
End
Close ORG_CURSOR
Close NEW_ORG_CURSOR
Deallocate ORG_CURSOR
Deallocate NEW_ORG_CURSOR
GO
I can only imagine how horrible this looks to average ORACLE DB/SQL programmer and would appreciate any help on this. I'm scheduled from some training down the road, but for now I'm trying to learn on my own.
Thanks for any constructive feedback and input.

Answer 1

I've tried this code with the following results:
select ftvorgn_orgn_code, ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred, ftvorgn_user_id,
substr(sys_connect_by_path(ftvorgn_orgn_code,'-'),2) as path
from ftvorgn
connect by ftvorgn_orgn_code = prior ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred
start with ftvorgn_ORGN_CODE = '530340' and ftvorgn_user_id <> 'CONVERT'
FTVORGN_ORGN_CODE     FTVORGN_ORGN_CODE_PRED     FTVORGN_USER_ID     PATH
530340     F00602     SUAGUILA     530340
F00602     E00602     CONVERT     530340-F00602
E00602     D00602     CONVERT     530340-F00602-E00602
D00602     C00598     CONVERT     530340-F00602-E00602-D00602
C00598     B00595     CONVERT     530340-F00602-E00602-D00602-C00598
B00595     A00002     MERROSS     530340-F00602-E00602-D00602-C00598-B00595
A00002          CONVERT     530340-F00602-E00602-D00602-C00598-B00595-A00002
C00598     B00595     GBLACK77     530340-F00602-E00602-D00602-C00598
B00595     A00002     MERROSS     530340-F00602-E00602-D00602-C00598-B00595
A00002          CONVERT     530340-F00602-E00602-D00602-C00598-B00595-A00002
Message was edited by: bjm
I then changed the code to the following and got the following results:
select substr(path,1,instr(path,'-')-1) base, substr(path,instr(path,'-',-1)+1,length(path)-instr(path,'-',-1)) top
from (
select substr(sys_connect_by_path(ftvorgn_orgn_code,'-'),2) path
from ftvorgn
connect by ftvorgn_orgn_code = prior ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred
start with ftvorgn_orgn_code = '530340' and ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred <> 'CONVERT'
BASE     TOP
     530340
530340     F00602
530340     E00602
530340     D00602
530340     C00598
530340     B00595
530340     A00002
530340     C00598
530340     B00595
530340     A00002
     530340
530340     F00602
530340     E00602
530340     D00602
530340     C00598
530340     B00595
530340     A00002
530340     C00598
530340     B00595
530340     A00002
Message was edited by:
This is my current code and results. I still can not capture when ftvorgn_user_id <> 'CONVERT' after the initial start with....do I need to include a where statement inside this query??
select substr(path,1,1) as bottom_level, min(substr(path,-1,1)) as vp, ftvorgn_orgn_code, ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred, ftvorgn_user_id from (
select ftvorgn_orgn_code, ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred, ftvorgn_user_id, substr(sys_connect_by_path(ftvorgn_orgn_code,'-'),2) as path
from ftvorgn
connect by ftvorgn_orgn_code = prior ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred
start with ftvorgn_orgn_code = '530340' and ftvorgn_orgn_code <> ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred and ftvorgn_user_id <>'CONVERT')
group by substr(path,1,1),ftvorgn_orgn_code, ftvorgn_orgn_code_pred, ftvorgn_user_id
BOTTOM_LEVEL     VP     FTVORGN_ORGN_CODE     FTVORGN_ORGN_CODE_PRED     FTVORGN_USER_ID
5     0     530340     F00602     SUAGUILA
5     2     A00002          CONVERT
5     5     B00595     A00002     MERROSS
5     8     C00598     B00595     CONVERT
5     8     C00598     B00595     GBLACK77
5     2     D00602     C00598     CONVERT
5     2     E00602     D00602     CONVERT
5     2     F00602     E00602     CONVERT