Query not returning rows on user input MS Access

Question

I am running below query in access in which i need to take argument from end user. Following query is used. However, when i don't ask for user input & put the condition in the query like this (tblApplications.txtApplicant Like "*dac*") it returns values and as soon as i asked for user input it returns blank.

Below is the query:

SELECT
    tblConstruction.txtConstructionNr AS [Constr-Nr] AS Amount,
    tblApplications.txtFolder
FROM
    tblApplications
    LEFT JOIN tblConstruction
        ON tblApplications.IDConstAppli = tblConstruction.IDConstr
WHERE
    (((tblApplications.txtApplicant) Like "*" & [Please enter the applicant or parts thereof:] & "*") AND
    ((tblApplications.txtDecission) Like "open"))
ORDER BY
    tblApplications.txtApplicant,
    tblApplications.[txtKomm-Nr],
    tblApplications.txtDecissionDat DESC;

Answer 1

If your table is linked to MySQL, use the MySQL wildcards:

%   matches any number of characters, even zero characters.

_    matches exactly one character.

Instead of * and ? as for Access.

...
tblApplications.txtApplicant Like "%" & [Please enter the applicant or parts thereof:] & "%"
...

The collation of the column might be case sensitive. Try entering the search term in the right case.