Thanks, we were using it to generate xml using a combination of tables in the database. Looks like we can avoid inline cursors altogether using the FOR XML EXPLICIT syntax.

check out the sql-block just before example 2 over here:

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2003/01/22/feuerstein.html

and a better description of the layout of the data here:

http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p=4950:8:::::F4950_P8_DISPLAYID:7866466844558