Use sybase mode for maximum compatibility between different target databases. This allows client applications that use sybase mode to operate independently of the target they are accessing.
When sybase mode is in effect, the access service performs a limited amount of Transact-SQL® (T-SQL) syntax transformation on the SQL text that it receives, including text found in the following commands: language, cursor declare, dynamic prepare, and dynamic execute immediate.
In sybase mode, the access service transforms the SQL text it receives into syntax that the target DBMS supports. If the access service receives syntax that it does not recognize, it passes the text to the DBMS for execution.
Because an application uses this mode for purposes of compatibility with all access services provided by Sybase, it should not issue SQL commands that are unique to any single target DBMS.
Figure 5-1 shows the differences between sybase mode and passthrough mode:
passthrough mode transfers similar dialect and syntax directly from the client application to the target.
sybase mode performs translation functions, changing the select statement from lowercase in the client application to uppercase in the target.
Figure 5-1: passthrough and sybase transformation modes
