Microsoft KB Archive/149067

= ACC: Query with Criteria Causes ApplyFilter to Fail Silently =

Article ID: 149067

Article Last Modified on 9/13/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q149067





SYMPTOMS
Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

When you specify a query that has a criteria as the FilterName argument of an ApplyFilter action, an ApplyFilter method, an OpenForm action, or an OpenForm method, the filter is not applied, and you receive no error message.



CAUSE
Microsoft Access does not set the Filter property of the form if you use a query as a filter and the length of the WHERE clause in the query exceeds 256 characters.



RESOLUTION
There are two possible workarounds. Both use Visual Basic for Applications.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access for Windows 95" manual.

Method 1
You can simulate a filter by setting a form's record source to a query that has criteria. For example, if your query that has criteria is called Query1, set the form's RecordSource property to Query1 by using the following sample code: Me.recordsource="Query1" You can use this technique in different event procedures, such as the form's Load event or a command button's Click event.

Method 2
You can use the query's SQL WHERE clause (without the word WHERE) in the Where Condition argument of the ApplyFilter method or OpenForm method. The Where Condition argument for these methods has a physical limit of 32,768 characters.

Here are the basic steps. This example uses the sample database Northwind.mdb:

 Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.  Use the following SQL statement to create a new query based on the Order Details table: SELECT DISTINCTROW [Order Details].OrderID, [Order Details].ProductID, [Order Details].UnitPrice, [Order Details].Quantity, [Order Details].Quantity FROM [Order Details] WHERE ((([Order Details].OrderID)>10500) AND (([Order     Details].ProductID)=31 Or ([Order Details].ProductID)=12 Or ([Order      Details].ProductID)=56 Or ([Order Details].ProductID)=14) AND      (([Order Details].UnitPrice)>5) AND (([Order Details].Quantity)>5)) OR ((([Order Details].UnitPrice)>100)) OR ((([Order     Details].Quantity)>120)) OR ((([Order Details].Quantity)>100));

 Close and save the query as TestQuery. Use the AutoForm: Columnar Wizard to create a new form based on the Order Details table. Open the new form in Design view. Create a command button, and then view its properties.</li>  Set the button's OnClick property to the following event procedure: DoCmd.ApplyFilter "TestQuery", "((([Order Details].OrderID)>10500)" & _   " AND (([Order Details].ProductID)=31 Or " & _ "([Order Details].ProductID)=12 Or ([Order Details].ProductID)=56" & _ " Or ([Order Details].ProductID)=14) AND " & _   " (([Order Details].UnitPrice)>5) AND " & _    " (([Order Details].Quantity)>5))" & _ " OR ((([Order Details].UnitPrice)>100)) OR " & _ " ((([Order Details].Quantity)>120))" & _ " OR ((([Order Details].Quantity)>100))" </li> Switch the form to Form view. Note that there are 2155 records in the form.</li> Click the command button to apply the filter. Note that there are 139 records in the form after the filter is applied.</li></ol>

NOTE: This technique only works with the ApplyFilter or OpenForm methods in Visual Basic. You cannot use an ApplyFilter or OpenForm action in a macro to work around this problem because the WhereCondition argument for these actions is limited to 256 characters in Macro Design view.

WARNING: If the WHERE clause contains text criteria in quotation marks, the quotation marks will also need to be concatenated into the SQL statement. For more information about concatenating strings, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

136059 ACC: Errors Concatenating Variables or Controls (2.0/95)

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STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Access version 7.0. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Access 97.

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Steps to Reproduce Problem
<ol> Open the sample database Northwind.mdb.</li>  Use the following SQL statement to create a new query: SELECT DISTINCTROW [Order Details].OrderID, [Order Details].ProductID, [Order Details].UnitPrice, [Order Details].Quantity, [Order Details].Quantity FROM [Order Details] WHERE ((([Order Details].OrderID)>10500) AND (([Order     Details].ProductID)=31 Or ([Order Details].ProductID)=12 Or ([Order      Details].ProductID)=56 Or ([Order Details].ProductID)=14) AND      (([Order Details].UnitPrice)>5) AND (([Order Details].Quantity)>5)) OR ((([Order Details].UnitPrice)>100)) OR ((([Order     Details].Quantity)>120)) OR ((([Order Details].Quantity)>100)); </li> Close and save the query as TestQuery.</li> Use the AutoForm: Columnar Wizard to create a new form based on the Order Details table.</li> Open the new form in Design view.</li> Create a command button, and then view its properties.</li>  Set the button's OnClick property to the following event procedure: DoCmd.ApplyFilter "TestQuery" </li> Switch the form to Form view. Note that there are 2155 records in the form.</li> Click the command button to apply the filter. Note that no filter was applied; there are still 2155 records in the form.</li></ol>

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