Convert select query results into Json - sql

Question

I want to execute a select query on a table and I need this result in a JSON format or in an excel sheet. I want to do this using query only and I'm using SQL Server 2014.
Here is the table schema
CREATE TABLE TestTable
(
Id int primary key identity(1,1),
Name nvarchar(200),
About nvarchar(2000),
Age int,
AddressId int
)
I need to get values from Id, Name, About and Age into a JSON List

Answer 1

JSON AUTO would make quick work of this in but JSON support is available only in SQL Server 2016 and later, including Azure SQL Database. For a T-SQL solution in SQL 2014 and earlier, you'll need to build the JSON string yourself.
Below is an example that uses a FOR XML subquery to concatenate the result into JSON format and adds the outermost [ and ] for the array. Note that this does not handle characters that must be escaped in JSON (\ and ") so you'll need to use REPLACE to escape those if contained in your data.
SELECT '[' + STUFF((
SELECT
',{'
+ '"Id":'+CAST(Id AS varchar(10)) + ','
+ COALESCE('"Name":"' + Name + '",','')
+ COALESCE('"About":"' + About + '",','')
+ COALESCE('"Age":'+CAST(Age AS varchar(10)) + ',','')
+ COALESCE('"AddressId":'+CAST(AddressId AS varchar(10)), '')
+ '}'
FROM TestTable
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE).value('.', 'varchar(MAX)'),1,1,'')
+ ']';

Answer 2

For SQL server 2017
CREATE TABLE mytable(
ID int PRIMARY KEY,
Name varchar(50),
teamName varchar(255),
Create_Date DATETIME
);
INSERT INTO mytable VALUES (1,NULL,'TEST1','2017-01-02');
INSERT INTO mytable VALUES (2,NULL,'TEST2',NULL);
INSERT INTO mytable VALUES (3,'KK','TEST3','2017-01-02');
INSERT INTO mytable VALUES (4,NULL,NULL,NULL);
Try below way here i provide an example
SELECT
ID,
Name,
teamName,
Create_Date
FROM mytable
FOR JSON AUTO
http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!18/81350/1
JSON_F52E2B61-18A1-11d1-B105-00805F49916B
[{"ID":1,"teamName":"TEST1","Create_Date":"2017-01-02T00:00:00"},{"ID":2,"teamName":"TEST2"},{"ID":3,"Name":"KK","teamName":"TEST3","Create_Date":"2017-01-02T00:00:00"},{"ID":4}]
For below vesion of sql 2017 server:
1st create a scaler function
create FUNCTION [dbo].[udf-Str-JSON] (#IncludeHead int,#ToLowerCase int,#XML xml)
Returns varchar(max)
AS
Begin
Declare #Head varchar(max) = '',#JSON varchar(max) = ''
; with cteEAV as (Select RowNr=Row_Number() over (Order By (Select NULL))
,Entity = xRow.value('#*[1]','varchar(100)')
,Attribute = xAtt.value('local-name(.)','varchar(100)')
,Value = xAtt.value('.','varchar(max)')
From #XML.nodes('/row') As R(xRow)
Cross Apply R.xRow.nodes('./#*') As A(xAtt) )
,cteSum as (Select Records=count(Distinct Entity)
,Head = IIF(#IncludeHead=0,IIF(count(Distinct Entity)<=1,'[getResults]','[[getResults]]'),Concat('{"status":{"successful":"true","timestamp":"',Format(GetUTCDate(),'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss '),'GMT','","rows":"',count(Distinct Entity),'"},"results":[[getResults]]}') )
From cteEAV)
,cteBld as (Select *
,NewRow=IIF(Lag(Entity,1) over (Partition By Entity Order By (Select NULL))=Entity,'',',{')
,EndRow=IIF(Lead(Entity,1) over (Partition By Entity Order By (Select NULL))=Entity,',','}')
,JSON=Concat('"',IIF(#ToLowerCase=1,Lower(Attribute),Attribute),'":','"',Value,'"')
From cteEAV )
Select #JSON = #JSON+NewRow+JSON+EndRow,#Head = Head From cteBld, cteSum
Return Replace(#Head,'[getResults]',Stuff(#JSON,1,1,''))
End
-- Parameter 1: #IncludeHead 1/0
-- Parameter 2: #ToLowerCase 1/0 (converts field name to lowercase
-- Parameter 3: (Select * From ... for XML RAW)
Then use this function json conversion below query is an example
Declare #Table table (ID int,Active bit,First_Name varchar(50),Last_Name varchar(50),EMail varchar(50))
Insert into #Table values
(1,1,'John','Smith','john.smith#email.com'),
(2,0,'Jane','Doe' ,'jane.doe#email.com')
Select A.ID
,A.Last_Name
,A.First_Name
,B.JSON
From #Table A
Cross Apply (Select JSON=[dbo].[udf-Str-JSON](0,1,(Select A.* For XML Raw)) ) B

Answer 3

From SQL-Server 2016+, you can use JSON AUTO to return Json:
Select *
From Customers
FOR JSON AUTO;
If you expect to return just a single row, then you can add Without_Array_Wrapper after FOR JSON AUTO with a comma after the AUTO keyword, and you will get an object instead of an array:
Select *
From Customers
FOR JSON AUTO, Without_Array_Wrapper;
Note: If you add the Without_Array_Wrapper and return multiple rows, you will get a newly populated object type but won't get any error - which requires carefulness as you won't know if anything is wrong and might hit you later when exercising the data.

Answer 4

From SQL-Server 2016+, you can use JSON AUTO to return Json:
I know two way to return query in JSON format.
If your query is from one table or only return a single table (as usual) you can use JSON PATH or JSON AUTO
CREATE TABLE TestTable
(
Id int primary key identity(1,1),
Name nvarchar(200),
About nvarchar(2000),
Age int,
AddressId int
)
INSERT INTO dbo.TestTable(Name,About,Age,AddressId)
VALUES (N'John' , NULL ,21, 16),(N'Mehdi' , 'Developer' ,32, 15)
query is
select * from [TestTable] for JSON PATH
output :
[{
"Id": 1,
"Name": "Mehdi",
"About": "Developer",
"Age": 32,
"AddressId": 15
}, {
"Id": 3,
"Name": "John",
"Age": 21,
"AddressId": 16
}
]
Notice that NULL values do not show on result. For showing the null values, [INCLUDE_NULL_VALUES] must be added at the end of the query.
SELECT * FROM [TestTable] WHERE id=2 FOR JSON PATH , INCLUDE_NULL_VALUES
output:
[{
"Id": 3,
"Name": "John",
"About": null,
"Age": 21,
"AddressId": 16
}
]
For the query that only return an object, WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER must be added at the end of query the brackets are remove from the result.
SELECT * FROM [TestTable] WHERE id=2 FOR JSON PATH , INCLUDE_NULL_VALUES , WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER
output :
{
"Id": 3,
"Name": "John",
"About": null,
"Age": 21,
"AddressId": 16
}
For adding sub query for example the user's contracts or user's family names.
there two way :
1-
SELECT
* ,
ContractList = (SELECT* FROM contract where UserId = 2 FOR JSON PATH)
FROM TestTable FOR JSON PATH
2-
SELECT
* ,
(JSON_QUERY((SELECT* FROM contract WHERE UserId = 2 FOR JSON PATH))) AS ContractList
FROM TestTable FOR JSON PATH
output:
[{
"Id": 3,
"Name": "John",
"About": null,
"Age": 21,
"AddressId": 16 ,
"ContractList" : [{...}, {...}]
}
]

Answer 5

Thank you so much, your answer came to my rescue after a week-long search.
Had to make a few changes to suit my scenario and add quotes around the code
SELECT '[' + STUFF((
SELECT
',['
+ '"'+ CAST(s.Code AS varchar(10)) + '"' + ','
+ COALESCE(''+CAST(COUNT(s.ControlNumber) AS varchar(10)), '')
+ ']'
FROM school s
INNER JOIN [dbo].[Class] cc ON cc.SchoolID = s.SchoolID
INNER JOIN [dbo].[Subject] s ON s.subjectID = cc.subjectID
INNER JOIN [dbo].Marks ms ON s.MarkID = c.CaseStatusID
WHERE ms.Created BETWEEN '2021-04-01 00:00:00' AND '2021-04-07 23:59:59'
AND s.subjectID IN (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Group By s.Code
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE).value('.', 'varchar(MAX)'),1,1,'')
+ ']';
Output
[["za-ec",14],["za-fs",5],["za-gt",3],["za-mp",14],["za-nc",2],["za-nl",8],["za-np",5],["za-nw",6],["za-wc",15]]