SQL Server Advanced Data Types : JSON, XML, and Beyond

Deliver advanced functionality faster and cheaper by exploiting SQL Server's ever-growing amount of built-in support for modern data formats. Learn about the growing support within SQL Server for operations and data transformations that have previously required third-party software and all the associated licensing and development costs. Benefit through a better understanding of what can be done inside the database engine with no additional costs or development time invested in outside software.Widely used types such as JSON and XML are well-supported by the database engine. The same is true of hierarchical data and even temporal data. Knowledge of these advanced types is crucial to unleashing the full power that's available from your organization's SQL Server database investment. __SQL Server Advanced Data Types__ explores each of the complex data types supplied within SQL Server. Common usage scenarios for each complex data type are discussed, followed by a detailed discussion on how to work with each data type. Each chapter demystifies the complex data and you learn how to use the data types most efficiently.The book offers a practical guide to working with complex data, using real-world examples to demonstrate how each data type can be leveraged. Performance considerations are also discussed, including the implementation of special indexes such as XML indexes and spatial indexes.**What You'll Learn** * Understand the implementation of basic data types and why using the correct type is so important * Work with XML data through the XML data type * Construct XML data from relational result sets * Store and manipulate JSON data using the JSON data type * Model and analyze spatial data for geographic information systems * Define hierarchies and query them efficiently through the HierarchyID type **Who This Book Is For**SQL Server developers and application developers who need to store and access complex data structures Deliver advanced functionality faster and cheaper by exploiting SQL Server's ever-growing amount of built-in support for modern data formats. Learn about the growing support within SQL Server for operations and data transformations that have previously required third-party software and all the associated licensing and development costs. Benefit through a better understanding of what can be done inside the database engine with no additional costs or development time invested in outside software. Widely used types such as JSON and XML are well-supported by the database engine. The same is true of hierarchical data and even temporal data. Knowledge of these advanced types is crucial to unleashing the full power that's available from your organization's SQL Server database investment. SQL Server Advanced Data Types explores each of the complex data types supplied within SQL Server. Common usage scenarios for each complex data type are discussed, followed by a detailed discussion on how to work with each data type. Each chapter demystifies the complex data and you learn how to use the data types most efficiently. The book offers a practical guide to working with complex data, using real-world examples to demonstrate how each data type can be leveraged. Performance considerations are also discussed, including the implementation of special indexes such as XML indexes and spatial indexes. What You'll Learn Understand the implementation of basic data types and why using the correct type is so important Work with XML data through the XML data type Construct XML data from relational result sets Store and manipulate JSON data using the JSON data type Model and analyze spatial data for geographic information systems Define hierarchies and query them efficiently through the HierarchyID type Who This Book Is For SQL Server developers and application developers who need to store and access complex data structures Front Matter ....Pages i-xv SQL Server Data Types (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 1-28 Understanding XML (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 29-48 Constructing XML with T-SQL (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 49-112 Querying and Shredding XML (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 113-156 XML Indexes (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 157-179 Understanding JSON (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 181-200 Constructing JSON from T-SQL (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 201-228 Shredding JSON Data (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 229-250 Working with the JSON Data Type (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 251-277 Understanding Spatial Data (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 279-297 Working with Spatial Data (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 299-340 Working with Hierarchical Data and HierarchyID (Peter A. Carter)....Pages 341-383 Back Matter ....Pages 385-392