Getting variable back in SQL script when reading from table

Hello,

in an SQL script procedure I want to do a select count(*) to get the number of table records.

The table name (with schema name) shall be a variable.

I tried to options, both failed:

Option 1: Within SQL script:

select count(*) into lv_number from table_name.

Here the problem is the table name. The system responds with "scalar types not allowed":

Option 2: Embedded SQL:

exec 'select count(*) as :lv_number" from " '|| :cachetable_name || ' "' ;

Here the problem is that the SQL-Script variable lv_number' is not filled from the embedded SQL.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance, Christoph