Public preview: JSON in Azure SQL Database

JSON functionalities are available in Azure SQL Database V12 (preview). You can use new JSON functionalities to integrate Azure SQL Database with other services that exchange data in the JSON format. With the new JSON functionalities, you can:

• Read data from JSON text by using JSON_VALUE/JSON_QUERY functions.
• Modify JSON text by using the JSON_MODIFY function.
• Transform JSON text into a relational format by using the OPENJSON function - OPENJSON function requires database COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 130!
• Easily query or import JSON data into tables.
• Query relational and JSON data stored in any relational table.
• Format the results of SQL queries as JSON text and send it to any service or framework that uses JSON (for example, JavaScript/jQuery components and AngularJS/ReactJS frameworks).

You don't need any special setup to start using JSON. If you have apps that are sending JSON text to SQL Server or if you use JSON text that is already stored in your tables, simply write a query that gets the values from your JSON documents.For more information, see our official documentation and blog posts.