This presentation will cover overview of JSON/BSON types along with various SQL features. It will cover JSON/BSON data extraction, performance & tips for hybrid environment. Examples will have SQL features such as Views, Derived Tables, Stored Procedure, Hierarchical queries

1. Using JSON/BSON types in your
hybrid application environment
Ajaykumar Gupte
IBM
1

2. Agenda
2
Overview
Using JSON/BSON types
SQL feautues with JSON/BSON
Performance / tips

3. Overview
3
JSON type
– Store single or multiple documents in a row
– string, numeric, boolean, date, timestamp
– useful when storing and retrieving entire document
BSON type
– Binary representation of JSON
– built in functions based on BSON type
– casting between JSON/BSON
– useful when processing sub elements of JSON document
JSON array - based on simple types, json document itself or nested array
Nested JSON – simple to multiple JSON documents in a single row

4. Using JSON/BSON types
4
Support for multiple JSON/BSON columns in a single table
– create table tab1 ( c1 json , c2 bson , c3 json , c4 bson);
Storage – size < 4 KB document are stored in-row
Size > 4 KB are stored in sbpace assigned for the table
Load JSON documents – use external table to load bson documents
– server can insert and display data only in JSON type
create table tab2 ( data json);
load from 'd.unl' insert into tab2;
insert into tab2 values ('{"name":"informix", "ver":11}');
Insert statement - create table tab3 ( data bson);
– To insert plain text with an SQL statement into a BSON column, cast to JSON
insert into tab3 values ('{"name":"informix", "ver":11}'::json);
insert into tab3 select * from tab2;
{"name":"informix", "ver":12}|
{"name":"informix", "ver":11}|

5. Using JSON/BSON types
5
BSON_GET function – retrieve key-value pair from the BSON column
select bson_get(data, "name")::json from tab3;
(expression) {"name":"informix"}
BSON Index – create index on a field within BSON column
- cannot create index on entire BSON column
- use BSON_GET() and “USING BSON” keywords as the index-key specification
create index idx on tab3(bson_get(data, "name")) using bson;
create index idx1 on tab3(bson_get(data, "name"), bson_get(data, "ver"))using bson;
Nested document and Array example :
{"person":{"givenname":"Jim","surname":"Flynn","age":29,"cars":["
dodge","olds"]}}
select bson_get(data, "name", "title")::json from
tab3;
(expression) {"title":"informix"}

6. Using JSON/BSON types
6
Functional index using BSON_GET
create function f_acct1(acct_id INTEGER, branch_name VARCHAR(20), acct_addr LVARCHAR(4041))
returns int with (not variant);
return acct_id * acct_id;
end function;
create index acct_ixa on account(f_acct1(acct_id,"DBSERVER","A234567890123456789")) using bson;

7. Using JSON/BSON types
7
Casting –
JSON to BSON – all processing functions are based on BSON
BSON to JSON – to display output results from key-value pair or entire document
- to view data in readable format
select data::json from tab3;
select data::json from tab3 where bson_get(data, "ver") = '{"ver":11}';
(U0001) - bson_input: bson_from_char failed!
Error in line 1
Near character position 72
select data::json from tab3 where bson_get(data, "ver") = '{"ver":11}'::json;
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":11}
select data::json from tab3 where bson_get(data, "ver") > '{ "ver":11}'::json;
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":12}

8. Using JSON/BSON types
8
Simple expressions (dotted notation) BSON column - Access key-value pair by using dot
notation
{"person":{"givenname":"Jim","surname":"Flynn","age":29,"cars":["dodge","olds"]}}
select data.person.surname::json from tab3;
(expression) {"surname":"Flynn"}
select data.person.cars::json from tab3;
(expression) {"cars":["dodge","olds"]}
bson_size() - return size for specific field or entire bson document select
bson_size(data,""), bson_size(data, "name") from tab3;
(expression) (expression)
41 13

9. BSON functions
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– Built-in functions to manipulate BSON data
– Useful to extract values based on defined types
– can be used in projection list, where clause expressions
– These functions can be used in create index statement
BSON_VALUE_INT( ) - return or operate on numeric data on BSON column
select bson_value_int(data, "ver") from tab3;
(expression)
11
12
select bson_value_int(data, "ver") from tab3 where bson_value_int(data, "ver") < 12;
(expression)
11
– similar functions BSON_VALUE_BIGINT( ) , BSON_VALUE_DOUBLE( ) ,
BSON_VALUE_FLOAT( )

10. BSON functions
10
BSON_VALUE_BOOLEAN( ) - returns string values 't' or 'f' – opaque BOOLEAN data type
{"name":"informix", "ver":11, "state":true}
select bson_value_boolean(data,"state") from tab3;
(expression)
t
BSON_VALUE_DATE( ) - function returns integer string values for DATE data type
'{"mydate" : ISODate("2013-07-02T16:39:22.343")}'
select data::json from tab1 where
bson_value_date(data, "mydate")::date = "07-02-2013";
(expression) {"mydate":ISODate("2013-07-02T16:39:22.343Z")}
create index ix1 on tab1(bson_value_date(data,"mydate")) using bson;

11. BSON functions
11
BSON_VALUE_TIMESTAMP( ) - returns or operate on built-in DATETIME data type
select bson_value_date(data,"ts") from tab1;
(expression) 2013-05-18 00:33:14.00000
BSON_VALUE_LVARCHAR( ) - converts a character string that is fewer than 32740 bytes
in a BSON field to an LVARCHAR data type
select data::json from tab1 where bson_value_lvarchar(data, "firstname") = "Peter";
Index case - create index ixfn on tab1 (bson_value_lvarchar(data,"firstname")) using
bson;
– similar function BSON_VALUE_VARCHAR( )
BSON_VALUE_OBJECTID( ) - returns the ObjectId values in a BSON document as strings
SELECT BSON_VALUE_OBJECTID(data,"_id") FROM products;
(expression) 54befb9eedbc233cd3a4b2fb

12. BSON functions
BSON_UPDATE() - updates the contents of a BSON column with MongoDB update
operators
- update operators : $set, $unset, $inc
{"name":"informix","ver":12,"state":true}
update tab3 set data = bson_update(data, '{"$set":{"ver":11}}');
{"name":"informix","ver":11,"state":true}
update tab3 set data = bson_update(data, '{"$inc":{"ver":1}}'); /*increment with 1 */
{"name":"informix","ver":12,"state":true}
update tab3 set data = bson_update(data, '{"$unset":{"ver":12}}'); /* remove ver=12 */
(expression) {"name":"informix","state":true}
insert into tab4 select bson_update(data, '{"$set":{"ver":10}}') from tab3;
select data::json from tab4;
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":10,"state":true}

13. BSON functions
Genbson() - copy data from database table into BSON format
- useful to produce bson document form query result set
- easy to copy table data into bson column
SELECT FIRST 1 genbson( systables )::JSON FROM systables;
SELECT FIRST 1 genbson( ROW(tabname, tabid))::JSON FROM systables;
{"_id":ObjectId("5319414764d5b83f00000005"),"tabname":"systables","tabid":1}
CREATE TABLE mybson ( c1 serial, c2 bson);
INSERT INTO mybson SELECT 0, genbson( mytypes ) FROM mytypes;
SELECT c1, c2::JSON FROM mybson;

14. SQL features with JSON/BSON
String type casting - expressions with string type columns & BSON column
select c1, data::json from tab4;
c1 {"name":"informix","ver":11,"state":true}
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":11,"state":true}
select c1 from tab4 where data::json::lvarchar = c1;
c1 {"name":"informix","ver":11,"state":true}
select c1, data::json from tab4;
c1 informix
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":11,"state":true}
select c1 from tab4 where data::json::lvarchar matches '*informix*';
c1 informix
select c1 from tab4 where bson_value_lvarchar(data, "name") = c1;
c1 informix
data.name::varchar

15. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON column sorting on single or multiple BSON document keys
select data::json from tab3 order by bson_get(data, "ver") desc ;
select data::json from tab3 order by data.ver::json desc;
select data::json from tab3 order by bson_value_int(data, "ver") desc;
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":12}
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":11}
JSON column sorting on entire document
– cannot access key-value pair for sorting
create table tab5(data json);
select data from tab5 order by 1 desc;
data {"name":"informix","ver":12}
data {"name":"informix","ver":11}

16. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON array examples
create table arr_tab(id int, c bson);
insert into arr_tab values(1, '{objarr:[1,2,3]}'::json);
insert into arr_tab values(2, '{objarr:[1,2,[4,5],3]}'::json);
insert into arr_tab values(3, '{objarr:[1,2,{mykey:[4,5]},3]}'::json);
insert into arr_tab values(5, '{objarr:[1,2,[4,5],3, ["foo", "bar", 4]]}'::json);
insert into arr_tab values(7, '{objarr:[1,2,[4,5],3, ["foo", [9,10], "bar", 4]]}'::json);
BSON array of documents
insert into tab1 values('{user:{fn:"Bob", children:[{fn:"Jack", ln:"Smith"},{fn:"Jane",
ln:"Smith"}], ln:"Smith", age:50}, zip:95032, devices:
["laptop","desktop","tablet"]}'::json);
select bson_get(c, "user.children.0")::json from tab1;
(expression) {"children":{"fn":"Jack","ln":"Smith"}}

17. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON value functions on array elements
{"name":"informix","ver":12}
{"name":["ifmx","informix"],"ver":[10,11]} ← “name” & “ver” are array elements
{"database":"informix","number":10}
select bson_value_varchar(data, "name"), bson_value_int(data, "ver") from tab3;
(expression) informix
(expression) 12
(expression) ifmx
(expression) 10
(expression)
(expression)

18. SQL features with JSON/BSON
Distinct type for JSON/BSON columns
create table tdist (c1 int, c2 float, c3 lvarchar(100), c4 json, c5 json, c6 json);
create distinct type J AS json;
create distinct type B as bson;
– inserting data as J type
insert into tdist (c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6) values (1, 2.4, "andre",
'{name:"andre"}'::J,'{job:"testing"}'::J, '{location:"lenexa"}'::J);
– using distinct types for casting
select bson_get(c6, "location")::json from tdist where bson_get(c6, "location") =
'{"location":"lenexa"}'::J::B;
(expression) {"location":"lenexa"}

19. SQL features with JSON/BSON
Temp table using JSON/BSON columns
create temp table tempt (c1 int, c2 float, c3 lvarchar(100), c4 json, c5 json, c6 json);
insert into tempt (c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6) values (323, 09.32432, "ame", '{name:"ame"}'::json,
'{job:"db"}'::json, '{location:"miami"}'::json);
select genbson(tempt)::json from tempt;
(expression) {"_id":ObjectId("5525a329608cf75000000009"),"c1":323,"c2":9.32432
,"c3":"ame","c4":"{name:"ame"}","c5":"{job:"db"}","c6":"{location:"miami"}"}

20. SQL features with JSON/BSON
Explicit cast for JSON/LVARCAHR columns
--cast function
create function json_to_lvarchar2(inp json) returns lvarchar
return cast(inp as lvarchar);
end function;
create function lvarchar_to_json2(inp lvarchar) returns json
return cast(inp as json);;
end function;
create explicit cast if not exists(json as lvarchar with json_to_lvarchar2);
create explicit cast if not exists(lvarchar as json with lvarchar_to_json2);
create table tcast (c1 int, c2 float, c3 json, c4 lvarchar);
insert into tcast (c1, c2, c3, c4) values (1, 0.23242, '{n:"andre"}'::json, '{n:"andre"}'::lvarchar);
select c3::json from tcast where cast(c3 as lvarchar)=c4;
select c3::json from tcast where c3=cast (c4 as json);
(expression) {n:"andre"}

21. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON column- views/derived tables
- using view/derived table with BSON value functions to extract element values
{"name":"informix","ver":12}
{"name":"informix","ver":11}
{"database":"informix","number":7} ← “ver” does not exists
create view v1(vc1,vc2) as select bson_value_varchar(data, "name"), bson_value_int(data, "ver") from tab3;
select * from v1 ;
select * from ( select bson_value_varchar(data, "name"), bson_value_int(data, "ver") from tab3) dtab(vc1,vc2);
vc1 informix
vc2 12
vc1 informix
vc2 11
vc1
vc2
data.name::varchar , data.ver::int

22. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON column – SPL
create table t3(id int, c1 bson, c2 lvarchar);
create function func_bson(key1 lvarchar, value1 lvarchar) returns bson
define bob1 bson;
define bob2 lvarchar;
let bob2 = '{"'||key1||'":"'||value1||'"}';
let bob1 = bob2::json::bson;
insert into t3 values(30,bob1,bob2);
return bob1;
end function;
execute function func_bson("key1","test_bson");
select c1::json, c2 from t3;
(expression) {"key1":"test_bson"}
c2 {"key1":"test_bson"}

23. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON column – Triggers
create table studentsInfo(table_id int,data bson);
create table studentsGrade(table_id int, data bson);
create procedure proc1() referencing NEW as n for studentsInfo;
define b1 bson;
SELECT bson_get(data, "name") into b1 FROM studentsInfo;
insert into studentsGrade values (n.table_id, b1);
end procedure;
create trigger student_grade_trig insert on studentsInfo for each row (execute procedure proc1() with trigger
references);

24. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON column- Merge statement
create table t1 (id int, name lvarchar(10), bcol1 bson, bcol2 bson);
create table t2 (id int, name lvarchar(10), bcol1 bson, bcol2 bson);
create synonym bsont1 for t1;
create synonym bsont2 for t2;
– merge t1 and t2 & update t2.bcol2 if bcol1 columns are matched
merge into bsont2 using bsont1 on bsont2.bcol1=bsont1.bcol1 when matched then update
set bsont2.bcol2=bsont1.bcol2;

25. SQL features with JSON/BSON
BSON column in distributed query
select id, data::json from rdb@$SERVER2:rt1 where
bson_value_lvarchar(data,'address.address1.street') = 'third';
– loading data from remote server
insert into lt2(id, data, len) select id, data, len from rdb@$SERVER2:rt2;
insert into rdb@$SERVER2:rt2 select id, data, len from lt2;
- remote spl execution
select id, proc1(data), len from rdb@$SERVER2:rt2;

26. SQL features with JSON/BSON
Sqexplain – using dot notation and json casting
select bson_get(bcol1, "name")::json, bson_get(bcol2, "name")::json from t1, t2 where t1.bcol1.ver::json =
t2.bcol2.ver::json
1) informix.t1: SEQUENTIAL SCAN
2) informix.t2: SEQUENTIAL SCAN
DYNAMIC HASH JOIN
Dynamic Hash Filters: informix.equal(informix.jsonoutput(BSON_GET (informix.t1.bcol1 , 'ver' ) ),informix.jsonoutput(BSON_GET (informix.t2.bcol2 , 'ver' ) ))
UDRs in query:
UDR id : 487
UDR name: equal
UDR id : 504
UDR name: jsonoutput
UDR id : 504
UDR name: jsonoutput
UDR id : 504
UDR name: jsonoutput
UDR id : 504
UDR name: jsonoutput

27. SQL features with JSON/BSON
Sqexplain – using bson value function
select bson_get(bcol1, "name")::json, bson_get(bcol2, "name")::json from t1, t2
where bson_value_int(bcol1, "ver")= bson_value_int(bcol2, "ver")
1) informix.t1: SEQUENTIAL SCAN
2) informix.t2: SEQUENTIAL SCAN
DYNAMIC HASH JOIN
Dynamic Hash Filters: BSON_VALUE_INT (informix.t1.bcol1 , 'ver' ) = BSON_VALUE_INT (informix.t2.bcol2 , 'ver' )
UDRs in query:
UDR id : 504
UDR name: jsonoutput
UDR id : 504
UDR name: jsonoutput

28. SQL features with JSON/BSON
Syscolumns information - create table tab1( data bson);
colname data
tabid 102
colno 1
coltype 40
collength 4096
colmin
colmax
extended_id 26 ← 25 for JSON data type
Seclabelid 0
colattr 0

29. SQL features with JSON/BSON
29
JSON validation cases
insert into tab3 values ('{"name":"informix", "ver":11}}'::json);
(U0001) - JSON Syntax error at character 29
Error in line 1
Near character position 63
insert into tab3 values ('{"name":"informix", "ver":{}'::json);
(U0001) - JSON Syntax error at character 29
Error in line 1
Near character position 61
insert into tab3 values ('{error:{"name":"informix", "ver":11}'::json);
(U0001) - JSON Syntax error at character 37
Error in line 1
Near character position 69

30. SQL features with JSON/BSON
30
NULL/Empty BSON elements
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":12}
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":11}
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":{}} ← Empty BSON document
(expression) ← NULL BSON ( insert into tab3 values(NULL))
select count(*) from tab3 where data is null;
(count(*))
1
select data::json from tab3 where bson_get(data, "ver") = '{"ver":{}}'::json;
(expression) {"name":"informix","ver":{}}
select bson_get(data, "test")::json from tab3;
(expression) {}
(expression) {}
(expression) {}
(expression) {}

31. Performance / tips
31
– up to 4 KB size of BSON document is stored in-row
– monitor sbspaces (system & Temp) for large document processing
– BSON value functions are based on BSON data type
– using views & bson value functions, map bson element to relational table columns
– select required bson keys using view/derived tables
– maximum 7 BSON/JSON columns per table
– BSON value functions – monitor and handle logic to detect array element & nested
document in JSON document

32. Questions?
32