Working with multiple results of a complex query

Question

Hi all!
As I "advance" in learning PL/SQL with oracle, I now get stuck in handling multiple results of a complex query. As far as I know, I cannot use a cursor here, as there is no table where the cursor could point to.
Here is the concept of what I want to do (pseudocode):
foreach result in SELECT * FROM table_1, table_n WHERE key_1 = foreign_key_in_n;
    -- do someting with the resultHere is my attemt, that freezes the browser gui and throws an internal database error:
declare
    type t_stock is record(
            baggage_id  baggage.baggage_id%type,
            section_id  sections.section_id%type,
            shelf_id    shelves.shelf_id%type
    v_stock t_stock;
    rcnt number(2);
begin
dbms_output.put_line(TO_CHAR(rcnt));
loop
     SELECT COUNT(*) INTO rcnt FROM (
               SELECT baggage.baggage_id, sections.section_id, shelves.shelf_id
               FROM baggage, sections, shelves
               WHERE baggage.baggage_id = sections.contained_baggage_id
                    AND shelves.is_connex_to_section_id = sections.section_id);
     IF rcnt <= 0 THEN
          exit;
     END IF;
     SELECT baggage.baggage_id, sections.section_id, shelves.shelf_id INTO v_stock
     FROM baggage, sections, shelves
     WHERE baggage.baggage_id = sections.contained_baggage_id
          AND shelves.is_connex_to_section_id = sections.section_id
          AND ROWNUM < 2;
     UPDATE sections SET contained_baggage_id = NULL WHERE section_id = v_stock.baggage_id;
     commit; -- do I need that?
end loop;
END;
/So, is there a way to traverse a list of results from a complex query? Maybe without creating a temporary table (or is that the better way?).
regards, Alex
I reformatted the code
pktm

Answer 1

Ok, here are the details:
The tables are used to model kind of a transport system. There are terminals connected with sections that may contain 1 piece of baggage. The baggage is moved by a procedure through a transport system. After each of these "moving steps", I check if the baggage is in front of the shelf it should be in.
[To be honest, the give statement doesn't contain the info, in which shelf the baggage wil bee inserted. That was spared out because of the lack of a working piece of code :)]
But: if we consider the fact, that a baggage is in front of such a shelf in the way, that it should be put in this shelf, then all this makes some sense.
- move baggae through a transport system
- see if you can put baggage into a shelf
In order to "put baggage in a shelf", I need to remove it from the transport section. As the transport system is not normalized, I need to update the section where the baggage was in.
Uhm... yes it's a task that doesn't make too much sense. It seems to be some kind of general spirit in university homework :)
But: the FOR r IN (Statement) lloks good. I'll use that.
And, the ROWNUM < 2 is used to limit the size of the result to 1, there is no need to have a specific ordering. It's just because - afaik - oracle doesn't have a limit clause. I would appreciate your help if you know a better way to do limit resultsets.
best regards, Alex