From: fvanbortel@netscape.net   
      
   UNIXNewBie wrote:   
   > Please excuse the basic nature of  these questions - I'm just starting off.   
   >   
   > This example is taken from Oracle PL/SQL 101 - Osborne/McGraw-Hill  - ISBN   
   > 0-07-212606-X - page 314   
   >   
   > Numbers to the left are line numbers for reference only. Hopefully I haven't   
   > made any typing mistakes.   
   >   
   > 1. DECLARE   
   >   
   > 2.           CURSOR product_cur IS   
   >   
   > 3.           SELECT * FROM plsql101_product   
   >   
   > 4.           FOR UPDATE OF product_price;   
   >   
   > 5. BEGIN   
   >   
   > 6.           FOR product_rec IN product_cur   
   >   
   > 7.           LOOP   
   >   
   > 8.                     UPDATE plsql101_product   
   >   
   > 9.                     SET product_price = (product_rec.product_price =   
   > 0.97)   
   >   
   > 10.         WHERE CURRENT OF product_cur   
   >   
   > 11. END LOOP;   
   >   
   > 12. END;   
   >   
   > Am I correct to say the following?   
   >   
   > The way a cursor works is that once a record is fetched it is taken out of   
   > the cursor.   
   No, fetched is fetched - it "stays" until your fetch the next one.   
      
     This works well until the last record is reached at which time   
   > fetch will continue to return the last record in the cursor   
      
   No - just give it a try - oracle will generate an error   
   unless you use   
   > the %FOUND and %NOTFOUND constructs to test for the last record?   
   >   
   > The cursor loop used in the above example eliminates the need to open, close   
   > and fetch. It also eliminates the need to check for the last record.   
   >   
   It's there: for x IN y : as long as there's an x fetched, do...   
      
   > There is no formal declaration of the cursor name "product_rec" first used   
   > on line 6. Is this an example of an implicit cursor of table-based record   
   > type?   
   Ehhh - not sure about the semantics, but it sounds familiar. Undoubtedly   
   you'll get a concise, yes/no answer.   
      
   >   
   > On line 9 how does PL/SQL know that there is a product_price field in the   
   > cursor record? Is this also part of the implicit cursor definition?   
   >   
   You know, or need to know. As a programmer.   
   It is checked during compile, if the above is part of a procedure.   
      
   Inline...   
      
   --   
      
   Regards,   
   Frank van Bortel   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)