Using JOIN in Query within MS Access 2016 for Fields in the Long Text Format - sql

Question

I have two queries which are almost identical. The only difference is the format of the fields being joined. One works, the other doesn't.
The query which JOINs two Integer fields works perfectly.
The query which JOINs two Long Text fields produces the following error:
"Cannot join on Memo, OLE, or Hyperlink Object (alarmlogwithstring2.[Tag_Value]=ECLString.[Tag_Value])."
Functional Query:
SELECT alarmlogwithdescs.TableIndex, alarmlogwithdescs.Date_Stamp, alarmlogwithdescs.Time_Stamp, alarmlogwithdescs.Tag_Name, alarmlogwithdescs.Tag_Value, ErrorCodeLookup.ErrorDescription
FROM ErrorCodeLookup INNER JOIN alarmlogwithdescs ON ErrorCodeLookup.[Tag_Value] = alarmlogwithdescs.[Tag_Value]
ORDER BY alarmlogwithdescs.TableIndex;
Nonfunctional Query:
SELECT alarmlogwithstring2.TableIndex, alarmlogwithstring2.Date_Stamp, alarmlogwithstring2.Time_Stamp, alarmlogwithstring2.Tag_Value, ECLString.ErrorDescription
FROM alarmlogwithstring2 INNER JOIN ECLString ON alarmlogwithstring2.[Tag_Value] = ECLString.[Tag_Value]
ORDER BY alarmlogwithstring2.TableIndex;
What I've Tried:
1.) I swapped the table following "FROM" to be ECLString with all necessary changes that should follow. (i.e. Then, after INNER JOIN I changed ECLString to be alarmlogwithstring2, etc...) This makes the two queries more identical, but shouldn't have an effect on the outcome. I did the same for the functional query just to be sure. The functional one still worked and the nonfunctional one still does not...
2.) I tried making my lookup table's Tag_Value field Short Text while keeping the actual data table's Tag_Value field Long Text. No effect.
3.) I tried changing the JOIN type when creating the relationship between the two tables. No effect.
4.) Changed alarmlogwithstring2.[Tag_Value]=ECLString.[Tag_Value]
to CAST(alarmlogwithstring2.[Tag_Value] AS varchar(max)) = CAST(ECLString.[Tag_Value] AS varchar(max)) and get the following error:
"Syntax error (missing operator) in query expression CAST(alarmlogwithstring2.[Tag_Value] AS varchar(max)) = CAST(ECLString.[Tag_Value] AS varchar(max))."
For whatever reason, after clicking "Ok" to close the error message the comma following SELECT alarmlogwithstring2.TableIndex, is highlighted, suggesting the missing operator is there. Okay?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Got it! Works for my situation, at least. Any other method for doing this would still be appreciated.
This works for me because my Tag_Value field contains text such as "Error0, Error1, Error2," etc...
So, I used the following code:
SELECT alarmlogwithstring2.TableIndex, alarmlogwithstring2.Date_Stamp, alarmlogwithstring2.Time_Stamp, alarmlogwithstring2.Tag_Value, ECLString.ErrorDescription
FROM alarmlogwithstring2 INNER JOIN ECLString ON Right( alarmlogwithstring2.[Tag_Value] , 1) = Right(ECLString.[Tag_Value], 1)
ORDER BY alarmlogwithstring2.TableIndex;
This works because of the integer on the end of my Tag_Value text. Using the Right(string,length) function causes only the integers within each value to be compared as they're all on the right-side of the value.
If your situation is similar to mine, then the code above is fine; however, if your number of error codes (or whatever) gets into the double digits, be sure to reflect this in the fields of both tables. (i.e. Make Error0 => Error00, make Error1 => Error01, etc...) within both tables and use Right(string,2) instead of Right(string,1). [Seems obvious, but may not be for everyone.]
However, this will NOT always be the case for me and everyone else. Someone may have pure text, for example. Thus, again, if you know of another, more general, solution, please, do let me know and I'll make your answer the answer for this question.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Got it. See below for general solution. It uses StrComp(string1,string2)=0 to match strings.
SELECT alarmlogwithstring2.TableIndex, alarmlogwithstring2.Date_Stamp, alarmlogwithstring2.Time_Stamp, alarmlogwithstring2.Tag_Name, alarmlogwithstring2.Tag_Value, ECLString.ErrorDescription
FROM alarmlogwithstring2 INNER JOIN ECLString ON StrComp(alarmlogwithstring2.[Tag_Value], ECLString.[Tag_Value]) = 0
ORDER BY alarmlogwithstring2.TableIndex;