For loop using VARCHAR2 - sql

Question

I'm trying to display the info for each student using this code
DECLARE
CURSOR cursor1 IS SELECT STUDENTNAME, COURSEID, COURSEDESCRIPTION, COURSECREDITS, GRADE
FROM STUDENTINFO;
S_NAME STUDENTINFO.STUDENTNAME%TYPE;
S_COURSEID STUDENTINFO.COURSEID%TYPE;
S_COURSEDESCRIPTION STUDENTINFO.COURSEDESCRIPTION%TYPE;
S_COURSECREDITS STUDENTINFO.COURSECREDITS%TYPE;
S_GRADE STUDENTINFO.GRADE%TYPE;
BEGIN
OPEN CURSOR1;
LOOP
FETCH CURSOR1 INTO S_NAME, S_COURSEID, S_COURSEDESCRIPTION, S_COURSECREDITS, S_GRADE;
EXIT WHEN cursor1%NOTFOUND;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Student Name: ' || S_NAME);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(S_COURSEID || S_COURSEDESCRIPTION || S_COURSECREDITS || S_GRADE);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(CHR(10));
END LOOP;
CLOSE CURSOR1;
END;
/
My output should be similar to
Student Name: John
CMIS 101 Intro to Info. Systems 3 B
CMIS 301 System Analysis 3 C
CMIS 451 Client/Server Systems 3 C
I'm pretty sure I should be using a for loop which I created
DECLARE
CURSOR cursor2 IS SELECT STUDENTNAME, COURSEID, COURSEDESCRIPTION, COURSECREDITS, GRADE
FROM STUDENTINFO;
search_student STUDENTINFO.STUDENTNAME%TYPE;
BEGIN
FOR v_Record IN cursor2
LOOP
IF v_Record.STUDENTNAME = &SEARCH_STUDENT THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Student Name: ' || STUDENTNAME);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(COURSEID || COURSEDESCRIPTION || COURSECREDITS || GRADE);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(CHR(10));
END IF;
END LOOP;
END;
/
However, when I type in a name for search_student, I'm just given the error
Identifier "insertnamehere"
Can I not use VARCHAR2 when searching? Is it only usable with numbers?

Answer 1

There are a few issues with your code.
For a start, why use PL/SQL to do this? You should just use a SQL statement directly. I'm going to assume that this is a homework question though (*sigh* - surely there are better examples to use?!).
1. IF v_Record.STUDENTNAME = &SEARCH_STUDENT - when you pass in a value for search_student, the client replaces the term &search_student. So, either you must ensure that the single quotes to specify the studentname is a string when you define the search_student (ie. when prompted for search_student you enter "'SomeName'") OR put the single quotes around the &SEARCH_STUDENT - ie. IF v_Record.STUDENTNAME = '&SEARCH_STUDENT'
2. When referencing the fields returned by the cursor in the for loop, you need to reference the record that the values were fetched into. Therefore DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Student Name: ' || STUDENTNAME); should be DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Student Name: ' || v_Record.STUDENTNAME);
3. Finally, if you're looking to output a single student record at a time, put the filter in the cursor, not in the loop.