Parse JSON in TSQL

Question

Is it possible to parse JSON in TSQL?

I don't mean to create a JSON string; rather, I want to parse a JSON string passed in as a parameter.

Answer 1

I seem to have a huge masochistic streak in that I've written a JSON parser. It converts a JSON document into a SQL Adjacency list table, which is easy to use to update your data tables. Actually, I've done worse, in that I've done code to do the reverse process, which is to go from a hierarchy table to a JSON string

The article and code is here: Consuming Json strings in SQL server.

Select * from parseJSON('{
  "Person":
  {
     "firstName": "John",
     "lastName": "Smith",
     "age": 25,
     "Address":
     {
        "streetAddress":"21 2nd Street",
        "city":"New York",
        "state":"NY",
        "postalCode":"10021"
     },
     "PhoneNumbers":
     {
        "home":"212 555-1234",
        "fax":"646 555-4567"
     }
  }
}
')

To get:

Answer 2

Update: As of SQL Server 2016 parsing JSON in TSQL is now possible.

Natively, there is no support. You'll have to use CLR. It is as simple as that, unless you have a huge masochistic streak and want to write a JSON parser in SQL

Normally, folk ask for JSON output from the DB and there are examples on the internet. But into a DB?

Answer 3

Finally SQL Server 2016 will add Native JSON support!!

Ref:

Additional capabilities in SQL Server 2016 include:

• Additional security enhancements for Row-level Security and Dynamic Data Masking to round out our security investments with Always
  Encrypted.
• Improvements to AlwaysOn for more robust availability and disaster recovery with multiple synchronous replicas and secondary load
  balancing.
• Native JSON support to offer better performance and support for your many types of your data.
• SQL Server Enterprise Information Management (EIM) tools and Analysis Services get an upgrade in performance, usability and scalability.
• Faster hybrid backups, high availability and disaster recovery scenarios to backup and restore your on-premises databases to Azure
  and place your SQL Server AlwaysOn secondaries in Azure.

Announcment: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2015/05/04/sql-server-2016-public-preview-coming-this-summer.aspx

Features blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jocapc/archive/2015/05/16/json-support-in-sql-server-2016.aspx

Answer 4

SQL server 2016 supports json data parsing using OPENJSON. You can use OPENJSON to map json data to rows and columns.

Your json Data

[
 { "id" : 2,"name": "John"},
 { "id" : 5,"name": "John"}
]

Here is how you can handle json in sql

//@pJson is json data passed from code.  

INSERT INTO YourTable (id, Name)
 SELECT id, name
 FROM OPENJSON(@pJson)
 WITH (id int,
       name nvarchar(max))

Here is a detailed article which covers this topic.

Answer 5

I developed my own SQL Server 2016+ JSON parser a while ago. I use this in all my projects - very good performance. I hope it can help someone else too.

Full code of the function:

ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[SmartParseJSON] (@json NVARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS @Parsed TABLE (Parent NVARCHAR(MAX),Path NVARCHAR(MAX),Level INT,Param NVARCHAR(4000),Type NVARCHAR(255),Value NVARCHAR(MAX),GenericPath NVARCHAR(MAX))
AS
BEGIN
    -- Author: Vitaly Borisov
    -- Create date: 2018-03-23
    ;WITH crData AS (
        SELECT CAST(NULL AS NVARCHAR(4000)) COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT AS [Parent]
            ,j.[Key] AS [Param],j.Value,j.Type
            ,j.[Key] AS [Path],0 AS [Level]
            ,j.[Key] AS [GenericPath]
        FROM OPENJSON(@json) j
        UNION ALL
        SELECT CAST(d.Path AS NVARCHAR(4000)) COLLATE DATABASE_DEFAULT AS [Parent]
            ,j.[Key] AS [Param],j.Value,j.Type 
            ,d.Path + CASE d.Type WHEN 5 THEN '.' WHEN 4 THEN '[' ELSE '' END + j.[Key] + CASE d.Type WHEN 4 THEN ']' ELSE '' END AS [Path]
            ,d.Level+1
            ,d.GenericPath + CASE d.Type WHEN 5 THEN '.' + j.[Key] ELSE '' END AS [GenericPath]
        FROM crData d 
        CROSS APPLY OPENJSON(d.Value) j
        WHERE ISJSON(d.Value) = 1
    )
    INSERT INTO @Parsed(Parent, Path, Level, Param, Type, Value, GenericPath)
    SELECT d.Parent,d.Path,d.Level,d.Param
        ,CASE d.Type 
            WHEN 1 THEN CASE WHEN TRY_CONVERT(UNIQUEIDENTIFIER,d.Value) IS NOT NULL THEN 'UNIQUEIDENTIFIER' ELSE 'NVARCHAR(MAX)' END 
            WHEN 2 THEN 'INT' 
            WHEN 3 THEN 'BIT' 
            WHEN 4 THEN 'Array' 
            WHEN 5 THEN 'Object' 
                ELSE 'NVARCHAR(MAX)'
         END AS [Type]
        ,CASE 
            WHEN d.Type = 3 AND d.Value = 'true' THEN '1'
            WHEN d.Type = 3 AND d.Value = 'false' THEN '0'
                ELSE d.Value
         END AS [Value]
        ,d.GenericPath
    FROM crData d
    OPTION(MAXRECURSION 1000) /*Limit to 1000 levels deep*/
    ;
    RETURN;
END
GO

Example of use:

DECLARE @json NVARCHAR(MAX) = '{"Objects":[{"SomeKeyID":1,"Value":3}],"SomeParam":"Lalala"}';
SELECT j.Parent, j.Path, j.Level, j.Param, j.Type, j.Value, j.GenericPath 
FROM dbo.SmartParseJSON(@json) j;

Example of multilevel use:

DECLARE @json NVARCHAR(MAX) = '{"Objects":[{"SomeKeyID":1,"Value":3}],"SomeParam":"Lalala"}';
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #ParsedData;
SELECT j.Parent, j.Path, j.Level, j.Param, j.Type, j.Value, j.GenericPath 
INTO #ParsedData
FROM dbo.SmartParseJSON(@json) j;

SELECT COALESCE(p2.GenericPath,p.GenericPath) AS [GenericPath]
    ,COALESCE(p2.Param,p.Param) AS [Param]
    ,COALESCE(p2.Value,p.Value) AS [Value]
FROM #ParsedData p
LEFT JOIN #ParsedData p1 ON p1.Parent = p.Path AND p1.Level = 1
LEFT JOIN #ParsedData p2 ON p2.Parent = p1.Path AND p2.Level = 2
WHERE p.Level = 0
;
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #ParsedData;

Answer 6

I do also have a huge masochistic streak as that I've written yet another JSON parser. This one uses a procedural approach. It uses a similat SQL hierarchy list table to store the parsed data. Also in the package are:

• Reverse process: from hierarchy to JSON
• Querying functions: to fetch particular values from a JSON object

Please feel free to use and have fun with it

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/1000953/JSON-for-Sql-Server-Part

Answer 7

Now there is a Native support in SQL Server (CTP3) for import, export, query and validate JSON inside T-SQL Refer to https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn921897.aspx

Answer 8

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.parseJSON( @JSON NVARCHAR(MAX))
RETURNS @hierarchy TABLE
  (
   element_id INT IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL, /* internal surrogate primary key gives the order of parsing and the list order */
   sequenceNo [int] NULL, /* the place in the sequence for the element */
   parent_ID INT,/* if the element has a parent then it is in this column. The document is the ultimate parent, so you can get the structure from recursing from the document */
   Object_ID INT,/* each list or object has an object id. This ties all elements to a parent. Lists are treated as objects here */
   NAME NVARCHAR(2000),/* the name of the object */
   StringValue NVARCHAR(MAX) NOT NULL,/*the string representation of the value of the element. */
   ValueType VARCHAR(10) NOT null /* the declared type of the value represented as a string in StringValue*/
  )
AS
BEGIN
  DECLARE
    @FirstObject INT, --the index of the first open bracket found in the JSON string
    @OpenDelimiter INT,--the index of the next open bracket found in the JSON string
    @NextOpenDelimiter INT,--the index of subsequent open bracket found in the JSON string
    @NextCloseDelimiter INT,--the index of subsequent close bracket found in the JSON string
    @Type NVARCHAR(10),--whether it denotes an object or an array
    @NextCloseDelimiterChar CHAR(1),--either a '}' or a ']'
    @Contents NVARCHAR(MAX), --the unparsed contents of the bracketed expression
    @Start INT, --index of the start of the token that you are parsing
    @end INT,--index of the end of the token that you are parsing
    @param INT,--the parameter at the end of the next Object/Array token
    @EndOfName INT,--the index of the start of the parameter at end of Object/Array token
    @token NVARCHAR(200),--either a string or object
    @value NVARCHAR(MAX), -- the value as a string
    @SequenceNo int, -- the sequence number within a list
    @name NVARCHAR(200), --the name as a string
    @parent_ID INT,--the next parent ID to allocate
    @lenJSON INT,--the current length of the JSON String
    @characters NCHAR(36),--used to convert hex to decimal
    @result BIGINT,--the value of the hex symbol being parsed
    @index SMALLINT,--used for parsing the hex value
    @Escape INT --the index of the next escape character


  DECLARE @Strings TABLE /* in this temporary table we keep all strings, even the names of the elements, since they are 'escaped' in a different way, and may contain, unescaped, brackets denoting objects or lists. These are replaced in the JSON string by tokens representing the string */
    (
     String_ID INT IDENTITY(1, 1),
     StringValue NVARCHAR(MAX)
    )
  SELECT--initialise the characters to convert hex to ascii
    @characters='0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz',
    @SequenceNo=0, --set the sequence no. to something sensible.
  /* firstly we process all strings. This is done because [{} and ] aren't escaped in strings, which complicates an iterative parse. */
    @parent_ID=0;
  WHILE 1=1 --forever until there is nothing more to do
    BEGIN
      SELECT
        @start=PATINDEX('%[^a-zA-Z]["]%', @json collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin);--next delimited string
      IF @start=0 BREAK --no more so drop through the WHILE loop
      IF SUBSTRING(@json, @start+1, 1)='"'
        BEGIN --Delimited Name
          SET @start=@Start+1;
          SET @end=PATINDEX('%[^\]["]%', RIGHT(@json, LEN(@json+'|')-@start) collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin);
        END
      IF @end=0 --no end delimiter to last string
        BREAK --no more
      SELECT @token=SUBSTRING(@json, @start+1, @end-1)
      --now put in the escaped control characters
      SELECT @token=REPLACE(@token, FROMString, TOString)
      FROM
        (SELECT
          '\"' AS FromString, '"' AS ToString
         UNION ALL SELECT '\\', '\'
         UNION ALL SELECT '\/', '/'
         UNION ALL SELECT '\b', CHAR(08)
         UNION ALL SELECT '\f', CHAR(12)
         UNION ALL SELECT '\n', CHAR(10)
         UNION ALL SELECT '\r', CHAR(13)
         UNION ALL SELECT '\t', CHAR(09)
        ) substitutions
      SELECT @result=0, @escape=1
  --Begin to take out any hex escape codes
      WHILE @escape>0
        BEGIN
          SELECT @index=0,
          --find the next hex escape sequence
          @escape=PATINDEX('%\x[0-9a-f][0-9a-f][0-9a-f][0-9a-f]%', @token collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin)
          IF @escape>0 --if there is one
            BEGIN
              WHILE @index<4 --there are always four digits to a \x sequence  
                BEGIN
                  SELECT --determine its value
                    @result=@result+POWER(16, @index)
                    *(CHARINDEX(SUBSTRING(@token, @escape+2+3-@index, 1),
                                @characters)-1), @index=@index+1 ;

                END
                -- and replace the hex sequence by its unicode value
              SELECT @token=STUFF(@token, @escape, 6, NCHAR(@result))
            END
        END
      --now store the string away
      INSERT INTO @Strings (StringValue) SELECT @token
      -- and replace the string with a token
      SELECT @JSON=STUFF(@json, @start, @end+1,
                    '@string'+CONVERT(NVARCHAR(5), @@identity))
    END
  -- all strings are now removed. Now we find the first leaf. 
  WHILE 1=1  --forever until there is nothing more to do
  BEGIN

  SELECT @parent_ID=@parent_ID+1
  --find the first object or list by looking for the open bracket
  SELECT @FirstObject=PATINDEX('%[{[[]%', @json collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin)--object or array
  IF @FirstObject = 0 BREAK
  IF (SUBSTRING(@json, @FirstObject, 1)='{')
    SELECT @NextCloseDelimiterChar='}', @type='object'
  ELSE
    SELECT @NextCloseDelimiterChar=']', @type='array'
  SELECT @OpenDelimiter=@firstObject

  WHILE 1=1 --find the innermost object or list...
    BEGIN
      SELECT
        @lenJSON=LEN(@JSON+'|')-1
  --find the matching close-delimiter proceeding after the open-delimiter
      SELECT
        @NextCloseDelimiter=CHARINDEX(@NextCloseDelimiterChar, @json,
                                      @OpenDelimiter+1)
  --is there an intervening open-delimiter of either type
      SELECT @NextOpenDelimiter=PATINDEX('%[{[[]%',
             RIGHT(@json, @lenJSON-@OpenDelimiter)collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin)--object
      IF @NextOpenDelimiter=0
        BREAK
      SELECT @NextOpenDelimiter=@NextOpenDelimiter+@OpenDelimiter
      IF @NextCloseDelimiter<@NextOpenDelimiter
        BREAK
      IF SUBSTRING(@json, @NextOpenDelimiter, 1)='{'
        SELECT @NextCloseDelimiterChar='}', @type='object'
      ELSE
        SELECT @NextCloseDelimiterChar=']', @type='array'
      SELECT @OpenDelimiter=@NextOpenDelimiter
    END
  ---and parse out the list or name/value pairs
  SELECT
    @contents=SUBSTRING(@json, @OpenDelimiter+1,
                        @NextCloseDelimiter-@OpenDelimiter-1)
  SELECT
    @JSON=STUFF(@json, @OpenDelimiter,
                @NextCloseDelimiter-@OpenDelimiter+1,
                '@'+@type+CONVERT(NVARCHAR(5), @parent_ID))
  WHILE (PATINDEX('%[A-Za-z0-9@+.e]%', @contents collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin))<>0
    BEGIN
      IF @Type='Object' --it will be a 0-n list containing a string followed by a string, number,boolean, or null
        BEGIN
          SELECT
            @SequenceNo=0,@end=CHARINDEX(':', ' '+@contents)--if there is anything, it will be a string-based name.
          SELECT  @start=PATINDEX('%[^A-Za-z@][@]%', ' '+@contents collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin)--AAAAAAAA
          SELECT @token=SUBSTRING(' '+@contents, @start+1, @End-@Start-1),
            @endofname=PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', @token collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin),
            @param=RIGHT(@token, LEN(@token)-@endofname+1)
          SELECT
            @token=LEFT(@token, @endofname-1),
            @Contents=RIGHT(' '+@contents, LEN(' '+@contents+'|')-@end-1)
          SELECT  @name=stringvalue FROM @strings
            WHERE string_id=@param --fetch the name
        END
      ELSE
        SELECT @Name=null,@SequenceNo=@SequenceNo+1
      SELECT
        @end=CHARINDEX(',', @contents)-- a string-token, object-token, list-token, number,boolean, or null
      IF @end=0
        SELECT  @end=PATINDEX('%[A-Za-z0-9@+.e][^A-Za-z0-9@+.e]%', @Contents+' ' collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin)
          +1
       SELECT
        @start=PATINDEX('%[^A-Za-z0-9@+.e][A-Za-z0-9@+.e]%', ' '+@contents collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin)
      --select @start,@end, LEN(@contents+'|'), @contents 
      SELECT
        @Value=RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@contents, @start, @End-@Start)),
        @Contents=RIGHT(@contents+' ', LEN(@contents+'|')-@end)
      IF SUBSTRING(@value, 1, 7)='@object'
        INSERT INTO @hierarchy
          (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, Object_ID, ValueType)
          SELECT @name, @SequenceNo, @parent_ID, SUBSTRING(@value, 8, 5),
            SUBSTRING(@value, 8, 5), 'object'
      ELSE
        IF SUBSTRING(@value, 1, 6)='@array'
          INSERT INTO @hierarchy
            (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, Object_ID, ValueType)
            SELECT @name, @SequenceNo, @parent_ID, SUBSTRING(@value, 7, 5),
              SUBSTRING(@value, 7, 5), 'array'
        ELSE
          IF SUBSTRING(@value, 1, 7)='@string'
            INSERT INTO @hierarchy
              (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, ValueType)
              SELECT @name, @SequenceNo, @parent_ID, stringvalue, 'string'
              FROM @strings
              WHERE string_id=SUBSTRING(@value, 8, 5)
          ELSE
            IF @value IN ('true', 'false')
              INSERT INTO @hierarchy
                (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, ValueType)
                SELECT @name, @SequenceNo, @parent_ID, @value, 'boolean'
            ELSE
              IF @value='null'
                INSERT INTO @hierarchy
                  (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, ValueType)
                  SELECT @name, @SequenceNo, @parent_ID, @value, 'null'
              ELSE
                IF PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%', @value collate SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin)>0
                  INSERT INTO @hierarchy
                    (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, ValueType)
                    SELECT @name, @SequenceNo, @parent_ID, @value, 'real'
                ELSE
                  INSERT INTO @hierarchy
                    (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, ValueType)
                    SELECT @name, @SequenceNo, @parent_ID, @value, 'int'
      if @Contents=' ' Select @SequenceNo=0
    END
  END
INSERT INTO @hierarchy (NAME, SequenceNo, parent_ID, StringValue, Object_ID, ValueType)
  SELECT '-',1, NULL, '', @parent_id-1, @type
--
   RETURN
END
GO

---Pase JSON

Declare @pars varchar(MAX) = 
' {"shapes":[{"type":"polygon","geofenceName":"","geofenceDescription":"",
"geofenceCategory":"1","color":"#1E90FF","paths":[{"path":[{
"lat":"26.096254906968525","lon":"65.709228515625"}
,{"lat":"28.38173504322308","lon":"66.741943359375"}
,{"lat":"26.765230565697482","lon":"68.983154296875"}
,{"lat":"26.254009699865737","lon":"68.609619140625"}
,{"lat":"25.997549919572112","lon":"68.104248046875"}
,{"lat":"26.843677401113002","lon":"67.115478515625"}
,{"lat":"25.363882272740255","lon":"65.819091796875"}]}]}]}'
Select * from parseJSON(@pars) AS MyResult 

Answer 9

As of SQL server 2016 and later it is natively supported.

SELECT Name, Surname,
  JSON_VALUE(jsonCol, '$.info.address.PostCode') AS PostCode,
  JSON_VALUE(jsonCol, '$.info.address."Address Line 1"') + ' '
  + JSON_VALUE(jsonCol, '$.info.address."Address Line 2"') AS Address,
  JSON_QUERY(jsonCol, '$.info.skills') AS Skills
FROM People
WHERE ISJSON(jsonCol) > 0
  AND JSON_VALUE(jsonCol, '$.info.address.Town') = 'Belgrade'
  AND Status = 'Active'
ORDER BY JSON_VALUE(jsonCol, '$.info.address.PostCode')

You can even modify single values within a JSON string using JSON_MODIFY():

DECLARE @json NVARCHAR(MAX);
SET @json = '{"info": {"address": [{"town": "Belgrade"}, {"town": "Paris"}, {"town":"Madrid"}]}}';
SET @json = JSON_MODIFY(@json, '$.info.address[1].town', 'London');
SELECT modifiedJson = @json;

This will give you {"info":{"address":[{"town":"Belgrade"},{"town":"London"},{"town":"Madrid"}]}

Source and example from Microsoft

Answer 10

I have seen a pretty neat article about this... so if you like this:

CREATE PROC [dbo].[spUpdateMarks]
    @inputJSON VARCHAR(MAX)  -- '[{"ID":"1","C":"60","CPP":"60","CS":"60"}]'
AS
BEGIN
    -- Temp table to hold the parsed data
    DECLARE @TempTableVariable TABLE(
        element_id INT,
        sequenceNo INT,
        parent_ID INT,
        [Object_ID] INT,
        [NAME] NVARCHAR(2000),
        StringValue NVARCHAR(MAX),
        ValueType NVARCHAR(10)
    )
    -- Parse JSON string into a temp table
    INSERT INTO @TempTableVariable
    SELECT * FROM parseJSON(@inputJSON)
END

Try to look here:

https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/t-sql-programming/consuming-json-strings-in-sql-server/

There is a complete ASP.Net project about this here: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/788208/Update-Multiple-Rows-of-GridView-using-JSON-in-ASP