LIKE query on an Access database via C# always returns COUNT(*) of 0

Question

Please look into following code:

using (OleDbConnection openCon = new OleDbConnection(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[\"AccessConnectioString\"]))
{
                


        

Answer 1

You are getting tripped up by the difference in LIKE wildcard characters between queries run in Access itself and queries run from an external application.

When running a query from within Access itself you need to use the asterisk as the wildcard character: LIKE 'RT*'.

When running a query from an external application (like your C# app) you need to use the percent sign as the wildcard character: LIKE 'RT%'.