Best approach for Embedded SQL SELECT in V7R1

[Michael Ryan <michaelrtr@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks...looking for opinions/ideas here. I'm working with a program that
declares a cursor, then does a FETCH NEXT to iterate through the result set
and fill a subfile. It looks like this:

             DECLARE C1 CURSOR FOR
             Select * From Inventory
             Where...<where and order by clauses>
...
         Exec SQL
            Fetch Next
              From C1
              Into :WkInventory;

Where WkInventory is an externally described DS based on the Inventory
file. The data is then moved from WkInventory to the subfile, and the
subfile is eventually displayed.

I *think* that performance would improve by FETCHing multiple rows into a
MODS or an array in a data structure, rather than esentially performing RLA
with SQL. Recently upgraded to V7R1, so I'm looking for the best approach
at this OS level - I know I can do more than I could do in V5R4. My first
thought is a MODS and specifying a number on the FETCH. But then I need to
be concerned about 're-FETCHing' when I run out of rows for my subfile,
right? Would an array make more sense than a MODS?

I want to use SQL where it makes sense and RLA where it makes sense. I need
to work through this concept so I can use this technique as I go forward.
Ideas, opinions, code samples all welcome. Thanks in advance!