Question

I would like to create a cursor on a conditional variable, the following is a short snippet:

DECLARE
  @my_var VARCHAR(8)

SET @my_var = (some value is obtained and set for @myvar)

DECLARE my_cursor CURSOR FOR
  SELECT
    my_cols
  FROM
    my_table
  WHERE
    some_col < @my_var

I need the condition obtained from the variable @my_var before declaring the cursor, but Sybase complains that DECLARE CURSOR must be in it’s own batch. However, if I place a GO before DECLARE CURSOR then the variable @my_var will be out of scope.

How can I resolve this scoping issue?

Portion of code causing the problem:

DECLARE
  @threshold_date VARCHAR(8),
  @retain_period INT

SET @retain_period =
(
  SELECT
    RETAIN_PERIOD
  FROM
    ARCHIVE_RETAIN_PERIOD
)
IF(@retain_period > 0)
  SET @retain_period = @retain_period * -1

SET @threshold_date = CONVERT(VARCHAR(8), DATEADD(DAY, @retain_period, GETDATE()), 112)

DECLARE archive_cursor CURSOR FOR
  SELECT
    TIMESTAMP,
    TIMESTAMP_GRP,
    CL_ORDER_ID,
    CL_ORDER_GROUP_ID,
    CL_PARENT_CHILD,
    CL_PARENT_ORDER_ID,
    CL_NUM_CHILDREN,
    CL_PRIMARY_STATE,
    CL_SECONDARY_STATE,
    CL_PENDING_CHANGE,
    CL_QUANTITY_FILLED,
    CL_QUANTITY_FILLED_HOUSE,
    CL_QUANTITY_FILLED_BROKER,
    CL_QUANTITY_FILLED_CLIENT,
    CL_QUANTITY_REMAINING,
    CL_NUM_EXECUTIONS,
    CL_CHILD_QUANTITY,
    CL_CHILD_QUANTITY_REMAINING,
    CL_GROSS_AVG_PRICE,
    CL_GROSS_AVG_PRICE_HOUSE,
    CL_GROSS_AVG_PRICE_BROKER,
    CL_QUANTITY_BOOKED,
    CL_BOOKING_PRICE,
    COMPLETION_REASON,
    COMMISSION,
    SALES_CREDIT,
    MARKUP,
    ROUTED_COUNTERPARTY_ID,
    CURRENT_EXECUTOR_ID,
    LAST_EXECUTOR_ID,
    RETAINED_EXECUTOR_ID,
    ROUTED_TO,
    RETAINED_SERVICE_ID,
    UPDATE_COUNT,
    UPDATE_USER,
    UPDATE_DATE,
    TRADER_MANAGED
  FROM
    my_db
  WHERE
    TIMESTAMP < @threshold_date
  AND
    CL_PRIMARY_STATE = "C"
GO

Answer 1

This one spot makes me wonder a bit:

IF(@retain_period > 0)
    SET @retain_period = @retain_period * -1

Thinking it might need to be

IF @retain_period>0 THEN
    SET @retain_period=@retain_period *-1;
END IF

That could be confusing things and giving you the error message.

EDIT Learning something new every day: A multi-line IF-THEN must end in a two-word END IF in Sybase :