A cursor is a symbolic name that is linked with a SQL statement. Declaring a cursor establishes this link. The SQL statement can be:
A SQL select statement
A Transact-SQL execute statement
A Dynamic SQL prepared statement
The SQL statement associated with a cursor is called the body of the cursor. When a client opens a cursor, it executes the body of the cursor, generating a result set. The Open Server application is responsible for detecting cursor requests and passing cursor results back to the client.