DBIF_RSQL_INVALID_CURSOR — DBIF_RSQL_INVALID_CURSOR runtime error

This dump belongs to the DBIF_RSQL family of database interface exceptions, raised when the ABAP runtime issues a FETCH against a cursor handle that the underlying database connection has already discarded. A cursor is a server-side pointer into a result set opened by OPEN CURSOR (or an implicit SELECT ... ENDSELECT loop). Once opened, that pointer is only valid as long as the database session and transaction context it was created in remain unchanged. Anything that resets the transaction context on that connection - most notably a commit - silently invalidates every open cursor, even ones the program still believes are usable. The next FETCH against that handle finds nothing there and the kernel raises this short dump rather than returning garbage rows. It is a database interface exception, not a memory or authorization problem, and it always points back to a sequencing error in the calling ABAP code or an external disruption of the database session.

If the trace shows COMMIT WORK between OPEN CURSOR and the failing FETCH, the fix is a code change: move the commit outside the fetch loop, or restructure the logic to buffer fetched rows into an internal table, close the cursor, commit, then reopen a new cursor keyed on the last processed value if the loop must continue. This requires a transport through normal development change control, it is not a configuration fix. If the cause is a stray FETCH after an explicit CLOSE CURSOR, correct the control flow so the loop cannot re-enter after the close, again a code change. If the cause is cursor reuse across an RFC or update-task boundary, redesign the interface so the receiving side opens its own cursor rather than inheriting a handle, which usually means changing the function module signature. If the trace instead shows no application-level commit or close and the timestamp lines up with a database restart or dropped connection reported in the database log, this is a Basis and infrastructure issue: check network stability between application and database tier, and review database session timeout settings with the DBA. No cursor-handling code change fixes a genuinely external session drop.

The reflex fix is wrapping the FETCH statement in a TRY/CATCH for CX_SY_OPEN_SQL_DB or a similar exception class and looping past it, or adding a SY-SUBRC check that just exits the loop quietly on error. This suppresses the short dump but does nothing about the COMMIT WORK still sitting inside the loop. The program now silently stops processing partway through the result set on every occurrence, so downstream records are missed with no error surfaced, which is worse than the dump because it produces incomplete data that nobody notices until a reconciliation fails weeks later.

Treat any COMMIT WORK found between an OPEN CURSOR and its CLOSE CURSOR as a defect during code review, not a style preference; static checks in the ABAP Test Cockpit or SLIN can be configured to flag commits inside active SELECT loops. For batch programs that must commit periodically, use package-based fetch with FETCH NEXT CURSOR ... PACKAGE SIZE, process the package fully, commit, then continue fetching from the same still-open cursor rather than reopening it, since package fetch does not require an intervening commit at all if buffer sizes are set sensibly. Log the last processed key so a genuinely dropped session can resume without reprocessing.

This is an ABAP development defect in the large majority of cases, since the fault sits in cursor and commit sequencing inside custom code. Basis involvement is limited to confirming or ruling out a database-side session drop or connection instability. The handover note should state the program, include, and line from ST22, whether a COMMIT WORK or CLOSE CURSOR appears inside the same loop, and whether the database connection log shows any session termination at the failure timestamp.

Closely related to DBIF_RSQL_SQL_ERROR and DBIF_RSQL_INVALID_REQUEST, which cover other malformed or rejected database interface calls from the same DBIF layer, and to DBIF_RSQL_TABLE_UNKNOWN when the underlying issue is a missing or inconsistent table rather than a stale cursor. Long-running FETCH loops that get cut off by a database-side cursor timeout often also surface as TIME_OUT if the dialog work process limit is hit first. Tables involved are whichever the failing SELECT or cursor was opened against, visible directly in the dump's source extract.