Query string parsing as number when it should be a string

Question

I am trying to send a search input to a REST service. In some cases the form input is a long string of numbers (example: 1234567890000000000123456789). I am getting 500 error, and it looks like something is trying the convert the string to a number. The data type for the source database is a string.

Is there something that can be done in building the query string that will force the input to be interpreted as a string?

The service is an implementation of ArcGIS server.

More information on this issue per request.

To test, I have been using a client form provided with the service installation (see illustration below).

I have attempted to add single and double quotes, plus wildcard characters in the form entry. The form submission does not error, but no results are found. If I shorten the number("1234"), or add some alpha numeric characters ("1234A"), the form submission does not error.

The problem surfaced after a recent upgrade to 10.1. I have looked for information that would tie this to a known problem, but not found anything yet.

Answer 1

According to an Esri help technician, this is known bug.

Answer 2

In terms of forcing the input to be interpreted as a string, you enclose the input in single quotes (e.g., '1234567890000000000123456789'). Though if you are querying a field of type string then you need to enclose all search strings in single quotes, and in that case none of your queries should be working. So it's a little hard to tell from the information you've provided what exactly you are doing and what might be going wrong. Can you provide more detail and/or code? Are you formatting a where clause that you are using in a Query object via one of Esri's client side API's (such as the JavaScript API)? In that case, for fields of data type string you definitely need to enclose the search text in single quotes. For example if the field you are querying were called 'FIELD', this is how you'd format the where clause:

FIELD = '1234'

or 

FIELD Like '1234%'

for a wildcard search. If you are trying to enter query criteria directly into the Query form of a published ArcGIS Server service/layer, then there too you need to enclose the search in single quotes, as in the above examples.