In ArcMap my Definition Query is removing all records but categorizing on symbology works properly

Question

I have a definition query to filter an attribute in a feature class, the Attribute is joined to the dataset being queried from an Access MDB and is data type SHORT, the values it contains are 1,0, & NULL (in Access the values come up as TRUE/FALSE).

This should be easy to do that with the query: "tblBCAssessment.STRATA" = 1, however when I do that all records disappear, when verifying the query I am told it is verified but no records were returned.

If I then go into the symbology of the layer and categorize the symbols based on the same tblBCAssessment.STRATA field I get entries for 1,0, & NULL. I can then remove the categories for all but "1" and I display only the polys I want to, but I still have everything in the attribute table so turning on labels labels everything instead of just the tblBCAssessment.STRATA = 1 fields.

Why is this definition query not identifying "1" in that field whereas symbology does identify "1"?

Answer 1

I'm sure I've come across this issue before, but don't you give enough information, for a start you don't say:

• What version of ArcMap you are using and Service Pack
• How you connect to the Access table (direct or OLE)
• Any information about the table coming from Access, such as table name, and field names

It will be impossible for anyone to comment. Having said that you should always check out the ESRI knowledge base, a quick search threw up these pages:

• Error: Error getting list of OIDs
• These bugs...