A SELECT statement that returns only a single row can be prepared dynamically, followed by an EXECUTE with an INTO clause to retrieve the one-row result. SELECT statements that return multiple rows, however, are managed using dynamic cursors.

With dynamic cursors, results are put into a host variable list or a SQLDA that is specified on the FETCH statement (FETCH INTO and FETCH USING DESCRIPTOR). Since the number of select list items is usually unknown to the C programmer, the SQLDA route is the most common. The DESCRIBE SELECT LIST statement sets up a SQLDA with the types of the select list items. Space is then allocated for the values using the fill_sqlda or fill_s_sqlda functions, and the information is retrieved by the FETCH USING DESCRIPTOR statement.

The typical scenario is as follows:

EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION;
char comm[200];
EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION;
int actual_size;
SQLDA * sqlda;
...
sprintf( comm, "select * from %s", table_name );
EXEC SQL PREPARE S1 FROM :comm;
/* Initial guess of 10 columns in result. 
   If it is wrong, it is corrected right 
   after the first DESCRIBE by reallocating 
   sqlda and doing DESCRIBE again. */ 
sqlda = alloc_sqlda( 10 );
EXEC SQL DESCRIBE SELECT LIST FOR S1 
  INTO sqlda;
if( sqlda->sqld > sqlda->sqln )
{
  actual_size = sqlda->sqld;
  free_sqlda( sqlda );
  sqlda = alloc_sqlda( actual_size );
  EXEC SQL DESCRIBE SELECT LIST FOR S1
    INTO sqlda;
} 
fill_sqlda( sqlda );
EXEC SQL DECLARE C1 CURSOR FOR S1;
EXEC SQL OPEN C1;
EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOTFOUND {break};
for( ;; )
{
  EXEC SQL FETCH C1 USING DESCRIPTOR sqlda;
  /* do something with data */
}
EXEC SQL CLOSE C1;
EXEC SQL DROP STATEMENT S1;

For a complete example using cursors for a dynamic select statement, see Dynamic cursor sample.

For more information about the functions mentioned above, see Library function reference.