SQL alternative for native I/O

What is the preferred SQL alternative to native database I/O in the following 
scenario? Read a header record and if a flag is on, read all the corresponding 
detail records for the header record and for those detail records whose flag is 
on, process the record and update it's flag.

Since SQL does not allow an update to a cursor for joined tables, do I create 
two cursors and update the detail record through its separate cursor or do I 
create one cursor for joining the two tables and update the detail record with 
a separate in-line SQL update statement or is there a better way to handle this 
type of processing using embedded SQL?

TIA,

Jake

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com