1. JSON for the Data Mortal
SQL Saturday #784
Sioux Falls, SD

2. Who Am I? Jim Dorame Jim Dorame Director of Data & Reporting
Working with Microsoft SQL Server since 1995
Jim Dorame
Twitter.com\dbajd

3. Agenda
Goals
What is JSON
Conclusion
XML vs. JSON
JSON in SQL Server

4. Goals What is JSON? XML vs. JSON.
Implementation of JSON in SQL Server.
How you can use JSON.

5. Agenda
Goals
What is JSON
Conclusion
XML vs. JSON
JSON in SQL Server

6. JSON

7. JSON

8. JSON

9. JSON What is JSON? JSON has been around since 1999
Based off JavaScript 3rd edition
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
Data-interchange format

10. JSON What is JSON? JSON based on 2 structures
Name/Value pairs of data
Order list of data (arrays)
Any programming language can use JSON
A way to pass data to and from apps, web pages, etc.
Programming Languages
Visual BASIC C#
JAVA
PASS Data
ETC. = Restul API, web Services

11. JSON Where is JSON being used? Web applications
Databases that support JSON
Postgress
MySQL
MongoDB (and many other document dbs)
Oracle
SQL Server (2016+)

12. Agenda
Goals
What is JSON
Conclusion
XML vs. JSON
JSON in SQL Server

13. XML vs JSON XML <Books> <book>
<Title>Pro SQL Server 2012 Practices</Title>
<Author>Jes Borland</Author>
</book>
<Title>Expert Performance Indexing for SQL Server 2012</Title>
<Author>Jason Strate</Author>
</Books>

14. XML vs JSON XML Hierarchical Elements (Tags)
Elements can have attributes
Elements can be nested as children
Values (Text of the elements)
Self describing
Extremely verbose

15. XML vs JSON JSON { "Books": [
"Title": "Pro SQL Server 2012 Practices",
"author": "Jes Borland" },
"Title": "Expert Performance Indexing for SQL Server 2012",
"author": "Jason Strate" } ]

16. XML vs JSON JSON Hierarchical Squiggly brackets ‘containers’ (objects)
Square brackets are arrays
Names and values separated by colon (members)
Items of an array separated by commas
Self describing
Not as verbose as XML(no need for “closing tag”, just name it)

17. XML vs JSON JSON and XML have similarities
JSON easier for human to create and read
JSON has arrays
JSON and XML are both in SQL Server
JSON and XML have similarities, however there are differences that set JSON apart from XML

18. Agenda
Goals
What is JSON
Conclusion
XML vs. JSON
JSON in SQL Server

19. JSON and SQL Server JSON Functions FOR JSON OPENJSON INDEXING
How is JSON supported in SQL SERVER?
JSON Functions
FOR JSON
OPENJSON
INDEXING

20. JSON and SQL Server JSON Functions ISJSON(expression)
Checks to ensure the expression is JSON
Returns 1 if valid JSON else 0
JSON_Value(expression, path)
Return a text value type nvarchar(4000)
Given a JSON string, and a starting location return the requested text, if text requested is JSON array then NULL or error is returned

21. JSON and SQL Server JSON Functions JSON_QUERY (expression, path)
Return JSON fragment type nvarchar(max)
If the requested data is not a JSON array null or error will be returned
JSON_Modify(expression, path, newValue)
Can add, delete or update JSON in the given expression
Returns the updated value of the expression as properly formatted JSON

22. JSON and SQL Server STRING_ESCAPE Syntax STRING_ESCAPE(text, type)
Text – nvarchar representing object being escaped
Type – Escaping rules to be applied currently only JSON
Returns nvarchar(max) with escaped special and control characters (JSON based only)
This is the one function that needs to have DB compatibility set to 130.

23. JSON and SQL Server STRING_ESCAPE Special character Encoded sequence
Quotation mark (")
\"
Reverse solidus (\) \\
Solidus (/) \/
Backspace \b
Form feed \f
New line \n
Carriage return \r
Horizontal tab \t
This is the one function that needs to have DB compatibility set to 130.

24. JSON and SQL Server
JSON Functions
Demo
Demo

25. JSON and SQL Server FORJSON
Use PATH mode to maintain full control over format of JSON output
Use AUTO mode formatted based on structure of select statement.
3 options
ROOT Add a single top-level element to the JSON without this no root element
Include null Values this will include JSON properties for nulled results
WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER this removes the square brackets from the JSON by default the square brackets are there

26. JSON and SQL Server
FORJSON
Demo
Demo

27. JSON and SQL Server OPENJSON Convert JSON data to Rows and Columns.
Only available under compatibility 130.
Can use default schema or explicit schema.
Return values when using the default schema
Key nvarchar(4000) -- name of the property or index
Value nvarchar(max) -- value of the property
Type int -- contains the type of the value only returned with default schema
This is the one function that needs to have DB compatibility set to 130.

28. JSON and SQL Server OPENJSON Return values continued
Value of the Type column
JSON data type
Null 1
String 2
Int 3
True/False 4
Array 5
Object
This is the one function that needs to have DB compatibility set to 130.

29. JSON and SQL Server OPENJSON Default schema syntax
OPENJSON( jsonExpression [ , path ] )
Explicit schema syntax
WITH ( colName type [ column_path ] [ AS JSON ]
[ , colName type [ column_path ] [ AS JSON ] ] [ , n ] )
This is the one function that needs to have DB compatibility set to 130.

30. JSON and SQL Server
OPENJSON
Demo
Demo

31. JSON and SQL Server INDEXING Yes you can index JSON
Must create a computed column on the value
Create index on virtual column as normal index
JSON indexes are collation aware.
BOL “The result of the JSON_VALUE function is a text value that inherits its collation from the input expression”
Computed column is based of a JSON_VALUE function returning that data element for indexing.

32. JSON and SQL Server
INDEXING
Demo
Demo

33. Agenda
Goals
What is JSON
Conclusion
XML vs. JSON
JSON in SQL Server

34. Concluding Remarks

35. Resources JSON Data (SQL Server) JSON JSON Tutorial
JSON
JSON Tutorial
Online JSON formatter and validator