JDBC incorrect syntax near “.” from executeQuery

Question

Ok, I have no hair left. When passing a constant string to executeQuery there's no problem. When passing a String object it fails and the exception is ' incorrect syntax near "."' .

Everything is essentially exactly the same, but for some reason one case works and the other does not. To give a little background, I am connecting to an SQLServer2008 DB. What gives?

Here's the code that has taken my hair from me:

public List<IdValuePair> Get_Job_Types() {
   ArrayList<IdValuePair> jt = Get_Id_Value_Pairs(
         "SELECT * FROM USER_JOB_TYPE", "JOB_TYPE_ID", "JOB_TYPE");
   return (jt);
}

private List<IdValuePair> Get_Id_Value_Pairs(String query, String idRowName,
      String valueRowName) {
   try {
      List<IdValuePair> pairs = new ArrayList<IdValuePair>();

      Class.forName("net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.Driver");
      m_Connection = DriverManager.getConnection(db_connect_string,
            db_userid, db_password);

      Statement stmt = m_Connection.createStatement();

      // THIS WORKS ?!
      ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM USER_JOB_TYPE");

      // THIS DOESN'T !!!!???
      rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);

      // ...

      rs.close();
      stmt.close();

      return (pairs);
   }

   catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
      return (null);
   }
}

Answer 1

When passing a String object it fails and the exeception is ' incorrect syntax near "." '.

What gives?

Based on the evidence that you have presented, the problem is in your query string. Basically, SQLServer is telling you that there is a syntax error in your SQL query.

But this works:

 ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM USER_JOB_TYPE");

... because the syntax of that SQL query is fine.

Print out the actual value of query that you are using in:

 rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);

If the solution isn't obvious, add the value of query to your Question so that we can look at it.

---

On rereading the question, it looks like the query string should be identical to the one the worked. But the evidence of the exception / message says that it isn't, and I'm more inclined to believe THAT evidence than the source code.

Answer 2

I figured it out. I blame Microsoft. For some dumb reason, when I copied the sql statement from Visual Studio and pasted it into InteliJ, MS added a BOM character which was hidden. So it seems that it was Microsoft that sent us up the BOM. Thank you Microsoft you moronic hive of mediocrity.