Newbie question - Data blocks and Arguments

I'm learning Oracle Dev 2000 at the moment. I'm trying to do some simple things that I did in other GUI interfaces.

Is it possible to create a data block that [Quoted] [Quoted] will accept an argument that will be used in the where clause? I've done this in PLSQL functions and procedures, and in ProC.

So, given the demo database:

SQL> describe DEPT

 Name                            Null?    Type
 ------------------------------- -------- ----
 DEPTNO                          NOT NULL NUMBER(2)
 DNAME                                    VARCHAR2(14)
 LOC                                      VARCHAR2(13)

is it possible to create a data block that would accept the DEPTNO as an argument, and return only those records with that DEPTNO?

In a PLSQL procedure, I would code:

create OR REPLACE procedure some_proc
( a_dept in dept.deptno%type
)
AS

CURSOR C_DEPT is
select
deptno,
dname,
loc
from dept
where deptno = a_deptno;

BEGIN for c1 in c_dept loop
...
end loop;

end; /* END PROC */

(Of course, a procedure such as this, can't 'RETURN' the rows, only process them internally. )

Is is possible to do this same idea in
a DATA BLOCK in Oracle FORMS 5.0?

I've tried fooling around with the data block's arguments, but I have had no success so far. I expect that I have got the syntax wrong.

Thanks a lot,

Newbie

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't. Received on Mon Aug 23 1999 - 18:31:40 CEST