Author: ​Peter Carter
Publisher: Apress
Pages: 408
ISBN: 978-1484239001
Print: 1484239008
Kindle: B07FNCN52L
Audience: SQL developers
Rating: 4
Reviewer: Kay Ewbank

SQL Server now comes with support for several new data types including JSON and XML. This book explains what they are and how to use them.

The premise of the book is simple - take each of the 'advanced' data types in turn and show what they are, what they're used for, and how to do it in SQL Server. In addition to XML and JSON, the book includes coverage of spatial data types and the hierarchyID data type.

The book opens with a chapter on all the data types in SQL Server, including a summary of the advanced data types. Having set the scene, Peter Carter then moves on to a chapter on understanding XML in which he describes what XML is, what well-formed XML looks like, and the ways you might use XML in SQL Server. This is followed by a chapter on constructing XML with T-SQL.

XML is also the subject of the next two chapters, one on querying and shredding XML, the next on XML indexes. Shredding XML is the process of taking an XML result set and converting it to the equivalent relational result set. As with the rest of the book, this chapter is heavy on SQL code and schemas, and has tables showing the parameters and values the commands accept and expect.

Carter next moves on to the JSON aspects of advanced data, starting with a chapter on understanding JSON. He then shows how to construct JSON from T-SQL using For JSON Auto and For JSON Path. A chapter on shredding JSON data is followed by one on working with the JSON data type.

Spatial data in the form of the Geometry and Geography data types are tackled next, with a chapter on understanding spatial data followed by one on working with spatial data. The book ends with a look at hierarchical data and the HierarchyID, showing how this new type can be used instead of self joins for data sets such as an employee hierarchy. 

This is a useful book. It brings together the details of how to use the new data types, and even the fact that they exist may be news to some SQL Server developers. Carter's examples are well thought out and explained, and having all the information together makes a useful reference.

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