Ref cursor:
Ref cursor is variable defined as cursor type, refcursor point or reference to
cursor result set.
Advantage: ref cursor can passed as variable to pl/SQL function or procedure.
The ref cursor can be assigned to another ref cursor varaible.
The powerful capability of ref cusror is can open the curosr in one
block,
then passed to antoher block for processing and the return to main
black for closing.
The cusror variable can also returned by a function and assigned to
antoher variables
Types of ref cursors:
--------------------
1.Strong ref cursor:By strongly typing the cursor variable, you define what the
cursor can return. If a strongly typed cursor returns something other that its
return type, a ROWTYPE_MISMATCH exception is raised.
A strongly typed cursor type is less flexible but less prone
to programming errors.
Ex: type type_name as ref cursor
retun type_name%rowtype
2.weak ref cursor:
This REF CURSOR is a weak typed cursor variable because it does not define the
datatype the cursor will return.
ex: type type_name as ref cursor