If this is the case, try clicking the result set. Your results may initially appear in a single row and a single column, and as one long line like this: In this case I used TOP 3 to limit the result set to just three results. So the results come out as a nicely formatted JSON document, instead of in rows and columns. So basically, all you need to do is add FOR JSON AUTO to the end of your query. When doing this, you must choose either the AUTO or the PATH option. This article contains examples of using the AUTO option. Best of all, the JSON-related functionality is straightforward and easy-to-use, so you should be able to incorporate it into your workflow with relatively little pain.In SQL Server you can use the FOR JSON clause in a query to format the results as JSON. In fact, for some organizations, the JSON features already implemented in SQL Server 2016 will be enough to meet their needs. And if you’re working with other database management systems, you’ll quickly discover that the JSON features in SQL Server 2016 have some catching up to do before they can match what’s been implemented in other products.Įven so, what SQL Server 2016 provides is better than nothing, and the JSON support is solid and could prove more than adequate much of the time. As you can see, however, JSON support is nowhere nearly as robust as XML support. This article should give you what you need to start working with JSON data in SQL Server. In this case, the path specifies only the root element, Employees, giving us the results shown in the following table: key You then specify one or more elements as they appear hierarchically in the JSON snippet, using periods to separate the elements. When you specify a JSON path, you start with a dollar sign ( $) to represent the item as it exists in its current context. An object is an unordered collection of one or more name/value pairs (properties), enclosed in curly braces, as shown in the following example:įROM OPENJSON ( json, '$.Employees' ) At its most basic, a JSON snippet can contain objects, arrays, or both. Getting to know JSONĪlthough JSON is a bit more complex than what we’ll cover here, it can help to have a basic understanding of what makes up a JSON code snippet before starting in on the SQL Server support. However, it does provide several important T-SQL language elements that make working with JSON much easier than it has been in the past, so Microsoft is at least moving in the right direction, even if it still has some catching up to do. SQL Server 2016 continues to use the NVARCHAR type to store JSON data. SQL Server 2016 includes no JSON-specific data type and consequently none of the kinds of methods available to the XML data type. SQL Server 2016 does not approach JSON with such vehemence, nor does it match what you’ll find in products such as PostgreSQL. That is, unless you were expecting the same sort of robust support we’ve seen with XML. JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is based on a subset of the JavaScript programming language and is noted for being human readable and easy for computers to parse and generate.Īccording to Microsoft, it is one of the most highly ranked requests on the Microsoft connect site and so for many, its inclusion in SQL Server is welcome news. SQL Server 2016 is finally adding support for JSON, a lightweight format for exchanging data between different source types, similar to how XML is used. JSON support in SQL Server 2016 - Simple Talk Skip to content
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