Hello all,

I am trying to create a simple query against Accounts and Contacts, trying to see if a contact has a selected Email address and the parent Account has a specific IATA number. I am getting into some basic API creation and am using files from a Developerforce conference from 2 years ago. I modified the code to use field specific to my org

The SOQL query returns values only if I use the LIKE operator and doesn't return any results if I use the equals operator. See below for what I mean
 

String searchText = '%'+searchTerm1+'%';
                List<Contact> searchResults = [SELECT Id, Name, Phone, Email, Account.IATA_Code__c FROM Contact WHERE Account.IATA_Code__c LIKE :searchText];
                
                if(searchResults != null && searchResults.size() > 0) {
                    response.acctList = searchResults;
                    response.status = 'Success';
                    response.message = searchResults.size() + ' Contacts were found that matched your search term.';
                }
                else {
                    response.status = 'Error';
                    response.message = 'No Contacts where found based on that IATA Code, please search again.';
                }

Because I used LIKE in the SOQL query I get results returned. However if I modify the code as you can see in the next fragment I get no results
 

String searchText = '%'+searchTerm1+'%';
                List<Contact> searchResults = [SELECT Id, Name, Phone, Email, Account.IATA_Code__c FROM Contact WHERE Account.IATA_Code__c = :searchText];
                
                if(searchResults != null && searchResults.size() > 0) {
                    response.acctList = searchResults;
                    response.status = 'Success';
                    response.message = searchResults.size() + ' Contacts were found that matched your search term.';
                }
                else {
                    response.status = 'Error';
                    response.message = 'No Contacts where found based on that IATA Code, please search again.';
                }

However, if you do not use a List for the results and simply use a String, then you can use the equals operator.

Is this expected behaviour? and if so is there any way I can made the search more selective? or make it pseudo equals?

Thanks