From 62f11ac57050b7aa3e3492b854271e03643eb567 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Anthony Tuininga <anthony.tuininga@oracle.com>
Date: Wed, 16 May 2018 14:09:33 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Clarify documentation on variables.

---
 doc/src/variable.rst | 22 +++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/src/variable.rst b/doc/src/variable.rst
index 16b8633..c519748 100644
--- a/doc/src/variable.rst
+++ b/doc/src/variable.rst
@@ -25,7 +25,18 @@ Variable Objects
 
 .. method:: Variable.getvalue([pos=0])
 
-    Return the value at the given position in the variable.
+    Return the value at the given position in the variable. For variables
+    created using the method :func:`Cursor.arrayvar()` the value returned will
+    be a list of each of the values in the PL/SQL index-by table. For variables
+    bound to DML returning statements where the attribute
+    `cx_Oracle.__future__.dml_ret_array_val` is set to the value True, the
+    value returned will also be a list corresponding to the returned data for
+    the given execution of the statement (as identified by the pos parameter).
+    For variables bound to DML returning statements and the attribute
+    `cx_Oracle.__future__.dml_ret_array_val` is not set or is set to the value
+    False, the value returned depends on the number of rows returned by the
+    first execution of the statement. If pos is a valid index into that array
+    then the value at that index will be returned; otherwise, None is returned.
 
 
 .. attribute:: Variable.inconverter
@@ -73,6 +84,11 @@ Variable Objects
 .. attribute:: Variable.values
 
     This read-only attribute returns a copy of the value of all actual
-    positions in the variable as a list. The number of items in the list will
-    correspond to the value of the :attr:`~Variable.actualElements` attribute.
+    positions in the variable as a list. For variables bound to DML returning
+    statements where the attribute `cx_Oracle.__future__.dml_ret_array_val` is
+    not set or set to the value False, this will be the returned data for the
+    first execution of the statement. In all other cases the elements returned
+    will be the equivalent of calling :meth:`~Variable.getvalue()` for each
+    valid position and the length will correspond to the value of the
+    :attr:`~Variable.actualElements` attribute.