DEFINE_COLUMN Procedure

This procedure defines a column to be selected from the given cursor. This procedure is only used with SELECT cursors.

The column being defined is identified by its relative position in the SELECT list of the statement in the given cursor. The type of the COLUMN value determines the type of the column being defined.

Syntax

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN (
   c              IN INTEGER,
   position       IN INTEGER,
   column         IN <datatype>)

Where <datatype> can be any one of the following types:

NUMBER
DATE
BLOB
CLOB CHARACTER SET ANY_CS
BFILE
UROWID

Notice that DEFINE_COLUMN is overloaded to accept different datatypes.

See Also: Oracle9i Application Developer's Guide - Large Objects (LOBs)

Pragmas

pragma restrict_references(define_column,RNDS,WNDS);

The following syntax is also supported for the DEFINE_COLUMN procedure:

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN (
   c              IN INTEGER,
   position       IN INTEGER,
   column         IN VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS,
   column_size    IN INTEGER),
   urowid         IN INTEGER;

To define columns with CHAR, RAW, and ROWID data, you can use the following variations on the procedure syntax:

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_CHAR (
   c              IN INTEGER,
   position       IN INTEGER,
   column         IN CHAR CHARACTER SET ANY_CS,
   column_size    IN INTEGER);

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_RAW (
   c              IN INTEGER,
   position       IN INTEGER,
   column         IN RAW,
   column_size    IN INTEGER);

DBMS_SQL.DEFINE_COLUMN_ROWID (
   c              IN INTEGER,
   position       IN INTEGER,
   column         IN ROWID); 

Parameters

Table 62-5 DEFINE_COLUMN Procedure Parameters

Parameter	Description
c	ID number of the cursor for the row being defined to be selected.
position	Relative position of the column in the row being defined. The first column in a statement has position 1.
column	Value of the column being defined. The type of this value determines the type for the column being defined.
column_size	Maximum expected size of the column value, in bytes, for columns of type VARCHAR2, CHAR, and RAW.