PLSQL using cursors or functions to query repeated data - function

Question

Is it better to declare a commonly used lookup query as a package function or as a function (either returning rows or values or returning a sysref cursor)?
Whats the difference?
What are the best practices?
What are the other considerations?
Or is there another better way?
1) using a package cursor
cursor getLicenseStatus_cur (in_license_no varchar2) is
SELECT status, status_dt from tbl_license where licence_no=in_license_no;
--use:
OPEN getLicenseStatus_cur('123');
fetch getLicenseStatus_cur into l_status, l_status_dt;
EXIT WHEN sql%NOTFOUND;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('l_status= ' || l_status || ', l_status_dt= ' || l_status_dt);
close getLicenseStatus_cur('123');
2) or using a function and passing a rowtype
create or replace function getLicenseStatus(in_license_no varchar2(10))
RETURN tbl_license%ROWTYPE
as
output_rec tbl_license%ROWTYPE;
begin
SELECT * into output_rec
from tbl_license where licence_no=in_license_no;
return output_rec;
end;
--use
lic_rec users%ROWTYPE;
lic_rec := getLicenseStatus('123');
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('l_status= ' || lic_rec.status || ', l_status_dt= ' || lic_rec .status_dt);
3) or using a function and passing a sys refcursor
create or replace function getLicenseStatus(in_license_no varchar2(10))
return sys_refcursor as
v_curs sys_refcursor;
begin
open v_curs for SELECT status, status_dt from tbl_license where licence_no=in_license_no;
return v_curs;
end;
--use:
v_rc := getLicenseStatus('123');
fetch v_rc into l_status , l_status_dt;
exit when sql%NOTFOUND;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('l_status= ' || l_status || ', l_status_dt= ' || l_status_dt);
close v_rc ;

Answer 1

Since you know that the query should always return exactly 1 row, a function returning a %ROWTYPE makes much more sense. That takes care of throwing an exception if 0 rows are returned or if more than 1 row is returned which sounds to be the correct behavior. That makes the calling code simpler as well since you're not dealing with iterating over a cursor.