Retrieving a single row of data into a host structure

If you know that your query returns multiple column values for only one row, you can specify a host structure to contain the column values.

About this task

In the following example, assume that your COBOL program includes the following SQL statement:

EXEC SQL
  SELECT EMPNO, FIRSTNME, MIDINIT, LASTNAME, WORKDEPT
    INTO :EMPNO, :FIRSTNME, :MIDINIT, :LASTNAME, :WORKDEPT
    FROM DSN8C10.VEMP
    WHERE EMPNO = :EMPID
END-EXEC.

If you want to avoid listing host variables, you can substitute the name of a structure, say :PEMP, that contains :EMPNO, :FIRSTNME, :MIDINIT, :LASTNAME, and :WORKDEPT. The example then reads:

EXEC SQL
  SELECT EMPNO, FIRSTNME, MIDINIT, LASTNAME, WORKDEPT
    INTO :PEMP
    FROM DSN8C10.VEMP
    WHERE EMPNO = :EMPID
END-EXEC.

You can declare a host structure yourself, or you can use DCLGEN to generate a COBOL record description, PL/I structure declaration, or C structure declaration that corresponds to the columns of a table.