Cursors WITH HOLD

Informix®

Informix closes opened cursors automatically when a transaction ends, unless the WITH HOLD option is used in the DECLARE instruction:

DECLARE c1 CURSOR WITH HOLD FOR SELECT ...
OPEN c1
BEGIN WORK
FETCH c1 ...
COMMIT WORK
FETCH c1 ...
CLOSE c1

ORACLE

With ORACLE, all cursors are WITH HOLD cursors by default, unless the FOR UPDATE clause is used in the SELECT statement.

If the SELECT statement uses the FOR UPDATE clause, ORACLE will close the cursor automatically when a transaction ends.

Solution

BDL cursors declared WITH HOLD remain open even after terminating a transaction with a COMMIT WORK or ROLLBACK WORK.

For consistency with other database brands, database cursors that are not declared WITH HOLD are automatically closed, when a COMMIT WORK or ROLLBACK WORK is performed.

Important:

Opening a WITH HOLD cursor declared with a SELECT FOR UPDATE results in an SQL error; in the same conditions, this does not normally appear with Informix. Review the program logic in order to find another way to set locks.