Public preview: New modern capabilities for Azure SQL Database
Published date: May 24, 2022
Azure SQL Database has released new features designed to accelerate developer velocity including binding updates, JSON enhancements, and a new local development experience. These features simplify and expedite application development and reduce time-to-market for you. The updated input and output bindings in Azure Functions provide an easier connection to SQL Database using Python and JavaScript languages along with bindings for C#. New JSON constructors (JSON_PATH_EXISTS, JSON_OBJECT, and JSON_ARRAY) and ISJSON enhancements make validating JSON documents or converting SQL data to JSON easier. The new local development environment provides a containerized, full-fidelity Azure SQL Database emulator together with Visual Studio Code and Azure Data Studio extensions. It will help you design, develop, and test your applications and databases as part of the same source-controlled project and then publish them to public Azure SQL Database service within the same workflow.
The ability to call an Azure Function and any REST endpoint from Azure SQL Database is now just one line of code away. This opens the doors to integration with many other Azure services including Cognitive Services, Logic Apps, Event Hubs, Event Grid, REST endpoints deployed in App Services, and Azure Containers or exposed via API Management.