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.