VBA/ACE OLEDB/SQL Run-Time error -2147217913 Data type mismatch in criteria expression

Question

I am running a SQL query from VBA using ACE OLEDB without connecting to Access. I do this so I can smash together quickly some Excel tables. I am not looking to transition this to another platform so would prefer to resolve the current issue.

VBA code works without issue for numerous queries but I am running into the mentioned error for the following query:

SELECT
    bcr.DialCode,
    bcr.Destination,
    (
        SELECT
            TOP 1 cc.CountryCode
        FROM
            table2 AS cc
        WHERE
            bcr.DialCode LIKE cc.CountryCode+'%'
        ORDER BY LEN(cc.CountryCode) DESC
    ) AS CountryCodes
FROM
    table1 AS bcr

Code adapted from: Longest prefix match in SQL Server 2000

The intention is to match dialed telephone numbers to the destination country by finding the most inclusive match. Reusing the quoted text sample of input and expected results (adapted to this exercise):

bcr.DialCode = '0841234567'

cc.CountryCode = {'084',
                 '0841',
                 '08412'}

Expected output = {'0841234567','Destination 1','08412'}

From searching online seems like maybe I'm using a reserved word in the query. But I have tested different parts of the query individually and don't get any errors. For example:

SELECT
    bcr.DialCode,
    bcr.Destination
FROM
    table1 AS bcr

Works as expected. Also:

SELECT
    TOP 1 cc.CountryCode
FROM
    table2 AS cc
WHERE
    cc.CountryCode LIKE '1'+'%'
ORDER BY LEN(cc.CountryCode) DESC

Has no errors and outputs the expected results.

The variable used to pass the query to the ADO connection is dimmed as String but I have tried setting as Variant with no change.

Is there perhaps a difference in the implementation of SQL through ACE for which the "Longest prefix match" query doesn't work? Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

First of all, please read my comment to the question.

Secondly, please read these articles:

I get a message about data type mismatch

MS Access 2003: LIKE condition (using wildcards)

Finally, if you would like to compare one data to another which StartsWith("SomeString"), you can use something like this:

SELECT
    bcr.DialCode,
    bcr.Destination,
    cc.CountryCode
FROM table1 AS bcr 
    INNER JOIN table2 AS cc 
    ON cc.CountryCode = LEFT(bcr.DialCode, LEN(cc.CountryCode))
ORDER BY LEN(cc.CountryCode) DESC;

For further details, please see: MS Access: Left Function

Note: Do not forget to use [;] at the end of query. MS Access database likes it ;)