This works for me in both 4.21 and 4.22. Not sure of your particular feature service URL, but this one using stream data on top of an Esri simple example will correctly apply the definition expression, and then remove it based on the button chosen. If you are still experiencing issues, maybe adding some actual code would help decipher it.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1" />
<meta name="theme-color" content="#000000" />
<meta name="viewport"
content="initial-scale=1,maximum-scale=1,user-scalable=no" />
<title>
Example resetting a FeatureLayer's Definition Expression
</title>
<link rel="stylesheet"
href="https://js.arcgis.com/4.22/esri/themes/dark/main.css" />
<script src="https://js.arcgis.com/4.22/"></script>
<style>
html,
body,
#viewDiv {
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
#infoDiv {
padding: 6px;
width: 370px;
height: 97%;
position: absolute;
top: 10px;
right: 10px;
--calcite-ui-brand: #71C96E;
--calcite-ui-brand-hover: #67B564;
}
#resultsDiv {
overflow: auto;
display: none;
}
</style>
<script>
require([
"esri/Map",
"esri/views/MapView",
"esri/layers/FeatureLayer",
"esri/Basemap"
], (
Map,
MapView,
FeatureLayer,
Basemap
) =>
(async () => {
// dark human geography basemap
const basemap = new Basemap({
portalItem: {
id: "4f2e99ba65e34bb8af49733d9778fb8e"
}
});
// national parks layer
const layer = new FeatureLayer({
url: "https://services9.arcgis.com/RHVPKKiFTONKtxq3/arcgis/rest/services/Live_Stream_Gauges_v1/FeatureServer/0",
outFields: ["*"]
});
const map = new Map({
basemap,
layers: [layer]
});
const view = new MapView({
container: "viewDiv",
map: map,
center: [-112.4, 33.5],
zoom: 9,
padding: {
right: 380
}
});
const layerView = await view.whenLayerView(layer);
view.when(function () {
view.ui.add("buttons", "bottom-right");
document.getElementById("btnTest1").addEventListener('click', function () { testDef("All"); });
document.getElementById("btnTest2").addEventListener('click', function () { testDef("Flowing") });
});
function testDef(inTest) {
var defExp = "";
if (inTest == "Flowing") {
defExp = "stage_ft > 0.3 and org = 'Maricopa County'";
}
layer.definitionExpression = defExp;
layer.refresh();
}
})());
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="viewDiv"></div>
<div id="buttons">
<button id="btnTest1">All</button>
<button id="btnTest2">Flowing</button>
</div>
</body>
</html>
