SQL Server and JSON: Data import, export and validation
This repository contains several stored procedures and PowerShell routines that can be used for inserting JSON data into SQL Server, validate the data or to export the data from SQL Server. They are described in a series of articles on the Red-Gate site and in Simple-Talk. Some use ordinary JSON files and others show how to include the schema and data in one document. I use them as temporary procedures because these are better for cross-database work, and as I generally script them there is little point in maintaining a permanent procedure on every server.
Schema creation
CreateJSONSchemaFromTable.sql
This temporary procedure creates a JSON schema from a table that
matches the JSON you will get from doing a
classic select * from ... FOR JSON statement on the entire table. This procedure needs SQL Server 2017 or later since it relies on string_agg().
CreateJSONArrayInArraySchemaFromTable.sql
This will produce a JSON Array-in-Array schema from a table.
This procedure needs SQL Server 2017 or later since it relies on string_agg().
JSON Data creation
SaveJsonDataFromTable.sql
This gets the JSON data from a table, taking into account all the problems that can come about such as dealing with CLR data types
SaveExtendedJsonDataFromTable.sql
This temporary procedure This gets the JSON data from a table, taking into account all the problems that can come about such as dealing with CLR data types
ArrayInArrayJSONDataFromTable.sql
This will produce a JSON Array-in-Array schema from either a table or a query.
This can't be done, unfortunately, from SQL Server's implementation of JSON.
This procedure needs SQL Server 2017 or later since it relies on string_agg(). It was
first written to check out how much more economical on space the array-in-Array
format was for storing tabular data as a document
Importing JSON Data
SaveJSONDataToTable.sql
This saves a JSON file to a table, dealing with the complications of having old deprecated data types and CLR data types
SelectJSONIntoTable.sql
This is a way of taking a JSON string that contains both the schema and the data, and inserting it into a table in the database you wish
Utilities
SaveJSONToFile.sql
This is a utility stored procedure for saving text to a file It is designed to save as utf-8 for JSON files but will do any file
SaveMultiRowSelectStatementFromTable.sql
This gets a multirow derived table SELECT * from (VALUES) statement from a table or a query. If you provide a destination, it will create the entire statement to stock the table with data. Warning: This is slow to use with large tables- use JSON instead as it is quicker, surprisingly.
PowerShell Validation
ValidateViaJSONSchema.ps1
Shows how to validate a directory, with a subdirectory with the schema and a parallel directory with the data