Using JSON

About JSON in SingleStore

SingleStore exposes a Javascript Object Notation (JSON) column-type that implements the JSON standard. You can define columns in SingleStore tables as the JSON data type to efficiently store and query JSON values. A JSON value is a JavaScript object, which means it is represented as a series of name/value pairs that are written according to a structured format and sequence. For more information, see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4627.txt.

Managing Collections of Metadata

JSON is useful for managing a collection of diverse data, represented as name-value pairs, that might otherwise be cumbersome to refactor into a formalized key-value table, or that might be stored in a table that is sparsely populated. For example, suppose an organization had an asset management application using SingleStore to track all the information about its physical assets. The asset data is diverse—what’s relevant for a desk differs from what’s important for a server machine or a company car. All assets might have common attributes, such as asset tag ID, asset type, asset name, and description. Each type of asset might have unique attributes, such as size and weight dimensions, hostname and IP address, or gas mileage.

Instead of creating a highly granular table to manage all data as key-value pairs, this organization could simply create a SingleStore table using a JSON column to efficiently manage the unique attribute data. With this design:

• Each asset gets a row in the table.

• Attributes that are common to all assets have their own column in the table. These columns allow you to query on common features and quickly narrow down the final result set as much as possible (for example, filtering by asset type).

• The various, remaining attributes associated with each asset are stored in a JSON column (which might be named something like property_bag). For example, the JSON column for an office desk asset could include JSON data such as size, weight, and number of drawers. The JSON data for a server machine could include rack location, number of cores, and MAC address.

DDL: Defining Tables with JSON Columns

Any SingleStore table can contain one or more columns of data type JSON. A JSON column can optionally be suffixed with NOT NULL.

'{ "b\u000a": 1,"a": 2 ,"a":3 } '

'{"a":3,"b\n":1}'

CREATE TABLE assets (
   tag_id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
   name TEXT NOT NULL,
   description TEXT,
   properties JSON NOT NULL);

CREATE TABLE assets (
   tag_id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
   name TEXT NOT NULL,
   description TEXT,
   properties JSON NOT NULL,
   weight AS properties::%weight PERSISTED DOUBLE,
   license_plate AS properties::$license_plate PERSISTED LONGTEXT,
   KEY(license_plate), KEY(weight));

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM assets WHERE properties::$license_plate = "VGB116";

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXPLAIN                                                                                                          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Gather partitions:all alias:remote_0                                                                             |
| Project [assets.tag_id, assets.name, assets.description, assets.properties, assets.weight, assets.license_plate] |
| ColumnStoreFilter [assets.license_plate = 'VGB116' index]                                                       |
| ColumnStoreScan test1.assets, KEY __UNORDERED () USING CLUSTERED COLUMNSTORE table_type:sharded_columnstore      |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM assets ORDER BY properties::%weight;

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXPLAIN                                                                                                          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GatherMerge [remote_0.weight] partitions:all alias:remote_0                                                      |
| Project [assets.tag_id, assets.name, assets.description, assets.properties, assets.weight, assets.license_plate] |
| Sort [assets.weight]                                                                                             |
| ColumnStoreScan test1.assets, KEY __UNORDERED () USING CLUSTERED COLUMNSTORE table_type:sharded_columnstore      |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

DML: Accessing Data in JSON Columns

This section describes how to insert and update data in a SingleStore table with one or more JSON columns.

INSERT INTO test_table(col_a,col_b) VALUES ('hello','{"x":"goodbye","y":"goodnight"}');

CREATE TABLE json_empty_values_table(a INT, b JSON, SORT KEY (a));

INSERT INTO json_empty_values_table VALUES (1, '{"v":null}');
INSERT INTO json_empty_values_table VALUES (2, '{"w":[]}');
INSERT INTO json_empty_values_table VALUES (3, '{"x":"foo","y":null,"z":[]}');
INSERT INTO json_empty_values_table VALUES (4, 'null');
INSERT INTO json_empty_values_table VALUES (5, '[]');

OPTIMIZE TABLE json_empty_values_table FLUSH;

SELECT * FROM json_empty_values_table ORDER BY a;

+------+-----------------------------+
| a    | b                           |
+------+-----------------------------+
|    1 | {"v":null}                  |
|    2 | {"w":[]}                    |
|    3 | {"x":"foo","y":null,"z":[]} |
|    4 | null                        |
|    5 | []                          |
+------+-----------------------------+

INSERT INTO TestJSON VALUES ('{"first":"hello"}');

SELECT data::first, data::$first FROM TestJSON;

+-------------+--------------+
| data::first | data::$first |
+-------------+--------------+
| "hello"     | hello        |
+-------------+--------------+

INSERT INTO TestJSON VALUES ('{"first":"hello", "second":"world"}');

SELECT CONCAT(data::$first, ' ', data::$second) FROM TestJSON;

+------------------------------------------+
| CONCAT(data::$first, ' ', data::$second) |
+------------------------------------------+
| hello world                              |
+------------------------------------------+

SELECT json, json::a::`2` FROM (SELECT '{"a":[1,2,3,4]}' AS json) sub;

+-----------------+--------------+
| json            | json::a::`2` |
+-----------------+--------------+
| {"a":[1,2,3,4]} | 3            |
+-----------------+--------------+

SELECT json, json_extract_json(json, 'a', 1+1) FROM (SELECT '{"a":[1,2,3,4]}' AS json) sub;

+-----------------+-----------------------------------+
| json            | json_extract_json(json, 'a', 1+1) |
+-----------------+-----------------------------------+
| {"a":[1,2,3,4]} | 3                                 |
+-----------------+-----------------------------------+

CREATE TABLE json_tab (`id` INT(11) DEFAULT NULL,`jsondata` JSON COLLATE utf8_bin);

INSERT INTO json_tab VALUES 
( 8765 ,' {"city":"SFO","sports_teams":[{"sport_name":"football","teams":  [{"club_name":"Raiders"},{"club_name":"49ers"}]},
{"sport_name":"baseball","teams" : [{"club_name":"As"},{"club_name":"SF Giants"}]}]}') ; 

INSERT INTO json_tab VALUES 
( 9876,'{"city":"NY","sports_teams" : [{ "sport_name":"football","teams" : [{ "club_name":"Jets"},{"club_name":"Giants"}]},
{"sport_name":"baseball","teams" : [ {"club_name":"Mets"},{"club_name":"Yankees"}]},
{"sport_name":"basketball","teams" : [{"club_name":"Nets"},{"club_name":"Knicks"}]}]}');

WITH t AS(
SELECT id, jsondata::city city , table_col AS sports_clubs FROM json_tab JOIN TABLE(JSON_TO_ARRAY(jsondata::sports_teams))),

t1 AS(
SELECT t.id, t.city, t.sports_clubs::sport_name sport, table_col AS clubs FROM t JOIN TABLE(JSON_TO_ARRAY(t.sports_clubs::teams)))

SELECT t1.id, t1.city,t1.sport,t1.clubs::club_name club_name FROM t1;

+------+-------+--------------+-------------+
| id   | city  | sport        | club_name   |
+------+-------+--------------+-------------+
| 9876 | "NY"  | "football"   | "Jets"      |
| 9876 | "NY"  | "football"   | "Giants"    |
| 9876 | "NY"  | "baseball"   | "Mets"      |
| 9876 | "NY"  | "baseball"   | "Yankees"   |
| 9876 | "NY"  | "basketball" | "Nets"      |
| 9876 | "NY"  | "basketball" | "Knicks"    |
| 8765 | "SFO" | "football"   | "Raiders"   |
| 8765 | "SFO" | "football"   | "49ers"     |
| 8765 | "SFO" | "baseball"   | "As"        |
| 8765 | "SFO" | "baseball"   | "SF Giants" |
+------+-------+--------------+-------------+

WITH t AS
(SELECT id, jsondata::city city , table_col AS sports_clubs FROM json_tab JOIN TABLE(JSON_TO_ARRAY(jsondata::sports_teams))),

t1 AS
(SELECT t.id, t.city, t.sports_clubs::sport_name sport, table_col AS clubs FROM t JOIN TABLE(JSON_TO_ARRAY(t.sports_clubs::teams))) 

SELECT t1.id, t1.city,t1.sport,t1.clubs::club_name club_name FROM t1 WHERE t1.clubs::$club_name = 'Yankees';

+------+------+------------+-----------+
| id   | city | sport      | club_name |
+------+------+------------+-----------+
| 9876 | "NY" | "baseball" | "Yankees" |
+------+------+------------+-----------+

CREATE TABLE test_json(col_a json);

INSERT INTO test_json VALUES ('{"addParams": "{\\"Emp_Id\\":\\"1487\\", 
  \\"Emp_LastName\\":\\"Stephens\\",\\"Emp_FirstName\\":\\"Mark\\",\\"Dept\\":\\"Support\\"}"}');

SELECT * FROM test_json;

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| col_a                                                                              |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| {"addParams":"{\"Emp_Id\":\"1487\",                                                |
|   \"Emp_LastName\":\"Stephens\",\"Emp_FirstName\":\"Mark\",\"Dept\":\"Support\"}"} |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+  

UPDATE users SET userdata::name::$first = 'Alex';
UPDATE users SET userdata = JSON_SET_STRING(userdata, 'name', 'first', 'Alex');

SELECT ticker_symbol FROM stocks WHERE statistics::%`P/E` > 1.5;
SELECT ticker_symbol FROM stocks WHERE JSON_EXTRACT_DOUBLE(statistics, 'P/E') > 1.5;

Implementation Considerations

This section describes some unique behaviors in SingleStore’s implementation of the JSON standard (RFC 4627).

SELECT '{"a":"\\u00F9"}' :> JSON;

+---------------------------+
| '{"a":"\\u00F9"}' :> JSON |
+---------------------------+
| {"a":"ù"}                 |
+---------------------------+

CREATE TABLE users (
   uid INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
   userdata JSON,
   lastname AS data::name::$last PERSISTED TEXT) COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;

CREATE TABLE orders (
    oid INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    data JSON COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci,
    productname AS data::product::$name PERSISTED TEXT,
    productdetails AS data::product::$details PERSISTED TEXT COLLATE utf8_bin,
    comments VARCHAR(256));

:> text collate <colation_name>

SELECT *
FROM sets
WHERE sets.json_field::$x :> text collate utf8_bin = "string1"
AND sets.json_field::$y :> text collate utf8_general_ci = "string2";

Parquet Encoding for JSON

A Parquet schema has a JSON-like syntax and a nested structure. The schema consists of a group of fields called a message. Each field has three attributes: repetition, type, and name. The type attribute is either a group or a primitive (e.g., int, float, boolean, or string). The repetition attribute can only be one of the following:

• Required: exactly one occurrence

• Optional : 0 or 1 occurrence

• Repeated: 0 or more occurrences

The infer schema process works as follows:

1. The schema loops through the list of JSON objects.

   1. The present keypaths are merged into a schema tree object.

   2. If there is a type conflict, the node in the schema tree is marked as un-inferable.

   3. If any node in the schema tree contains more children than indicated in the json_document_max_children engine variable, the node is marked as un-inferable.

   4. If a node has a greater number of children than indicated in the engine variable json_document_sparse_children_check_threshold and the average occurrence of all children related to the parent is less than 1/ as indicated in the engine variable json_document_sparse_children_check_ratio, the node will be marked as un-inferable.

2. Once the schema tree object is constructed, analyze the schema tree and prune the tree until the number of key paths (distinct root to leaf paths) is less than the setting for the engine variable json_document_max_leaves. Also, prune any node where the average occurrence of all the children in relation to the number of rows is less than 1/ as indicated in the engine variable json_document_absolute_sparse_key_check_ratio.

The examples will use the engine variables settings and the JSON object table shown below:

• json_document_max_children = 4

• json_document_sparse_children_threshold = 3

• json_document_sparse_children_ratio = 2

The first pass at merging the keypaths will yield:

The second pass at merging the keypaths contains a type mismatch on a2. The results would be:

The results of the third and fourth passes at merging yield:

In the final merge, the number of children for a4 exceeds the limit (4) set for json_document_max_children so it is marked as un-inferable. The number of children for a3 exceeds the limit (3) set for json_document_sparse_children_threshold. The average occurrences of children of a3 (1) relative to the number of occurrences of a3 (3) is calculated as ⅓ < ½, so a3 would also be un-inferable.

After the merging process, the schema tree with leaves are the inferred columns (also may be referred to as leaves, leaf columns, leaf paths, or key paths).

The keypaths will be  a1, a2, a3, a4.

Performance Impact on Parquet Encoding for JSON

When using seekable JSON/JSON Parquet encoding a major impact on performance is if a schema is dense or sparse.

A node in a tree is considered to be dense if it occurs in most JSON rows. A schema is said to be dense if most of the nodes in the entire schema are dense. Otherwise, the schema is considered to be sparse.

Consider the following JSON data table:

The schema will infer the JSON rows as follows:

Using the image above the leaves of the tree become internal columns in the JSON encoding. This is an example of a dense schema.

Using the following JSON data table:

The JSON rows will be encoded as follows:

The preceding table represents a sparse schema caused by the NULLs not being part of the original JSON strings. This results in poor performance since the NULLs will need to be counted which increases the execution time and memory usage.

To prevent an overly sparse schema from being inferred, SingleStore uses a method where if the average of a key’s children is too low (<1%) in relation to the key itself, the key is stored as a string without inferring its children.

Related Topics

• See: JSON_AGG

• Training: Working with JSON