Can get an average of values in a json array using postgres? - sql

Question

One of the great things about postgres is that it allows indexing into a json object.
I have a column of data formatted a little bit like this:
{"Items":
[
{"RetailPrice":6.1,"EffectivePrice":0,"Multiplier":1,"ItemId":"53636"},
{"RetailPrice":0.47,"EffectivePrice":0,"Multiplier":1,"ItemId":"53404"}
]
}
What I'd like to do is find the average RetailPrice of each row with these data.
Something like
select avg(json_extract_path_text(item_json, 'RetailPrice'))
but really I need to do this for each item in the items json object. So for this example, the value in the queried cell would be 3.285
How can I do this?

Answer 1

Could work like this:
WITH cte(tbl_id, json_items) AS (
SELECT 1
, '{"Items": [
{"RetailPrice":6.1,"EffectivePrice":0,"Multiplier":1,"ItemId":"53636"}
,{"RetailPrice":0.47,"EffectivePrice":0,"Multiplier":1,"ItemId":"53404"}]}'::json
)
SELECT tbl_id, round(avg((elem->>'RetailPrice')::numeric), 3) AS avg_retail_price
FROM cte c
, json_array_elements(c.json_items->'Items') elem
GROUP BY 1;
The CTE just substitutes for a table like:
CREATE TABLE tbl (
tbl_id serial PRIMARY KEY
, json_items json
);
json_array_elements() (Postgres 9.3+) to unnest the json array is instrumental.
I am using an implicit JOIN LATERAL here. Much like in this related example:
Query for element of array in JSON column
For an index to support this kind of query consider this related answer:
Index for finding an element in a JSON array
For details on how to best store EAV data:
Is there a name for this database structure?