ACC2000: Cannot Sort Arabic or Japanese Text in Descending Order (269689)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Access 2000
This article was previously published under Q269689
Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

SYMPTOMS

When you try to sort a table that contains double-byte text (for example, Japanese) or text in a right-to-left language (for example, Arabic) in descending order, the records are not sorted, and you do not receive an error message.

When you then try to close the table after such an unsuccessful attempt to sort the data, you receive the following error message
This action will reset the code in break mode
and you cannot close the table.

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, modify the table design and create an index on the field to be sorted. In order to close the table window, first acknowledge the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section. Then, switch the table to Design view and close the table.

This problem has been fixed in the latest edition of the Jet Service Pack. For additional information about how to obtain the latest version of the Jet 4.0 database engine, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

239114 How To: Obtain the Latest Service Pack for the Microsoft Jet 4.0 Database Engine

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

  1. Activate Arabic language support for your version of Windows and for Microsoft Office.
  2. In Access 2000, create a new database.
  3. Create a new table and add a Text field.
  4. Type some Arabic text in a few records.
  5. In one record, type three Arabic words that, with the two blank spaces between the words, form a string of 21 characters. For example, type seven Arabic letters, press the spacebar, type four Arabic letters, press the spacebar, and then type eight Arabic letters.
  6. Click the Sort Ascending button. Note that the records are sorted correctly.
  7. Click the Sort Descending button. Note that nothing happens. That is, the records are not sorted.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/25/2004
Keywords:kbbug kberrmsg kbfix KB269689
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.