将Json对象存储到数据库

Question

I run really complex reporting from the database. So far I was returning a complex json object and javscript was rendering the report. But as its growing more creating this json object is taking really long time .

I am thinking to replace this with another approach . User will create a request to generate report and a server side process can generate json and store it for later use and user will be emailed a link.

Is it safe approach to store json object in database ? Main reason to store it is that columns that user is going to run report on are never fixed . Should I rather go for NoSql ?

Thanks in advance .

Answer 1

storing JSON in the database should be safe. JSON is simple text so in that sense, I don't see any problem with this approach.

Answer 2

In the specific case you mention, you should consider a key-value store such as Redis. You could store, say user_id -> json_object. Key-value stores are excellent for caching, which is essentially what it sounds like you are doing.

In the general case, storing JSON is possible, but it loses one vital thing: it is not obvious how to use the semantics of your data in a SQL query. For instance, say we store records like:

{'color': blue, 'height': '40px'}  
{'color': blue, 'height': '50px'}  
{'color': red, 'height': '40px'}  

as strings in a database.

If we want to identify all elements that are color "blue" then our only option is to search for the string "%blue%" in each string element. This is both costly and error prone. You might consider either breaking up the JSON and storing it as a database or moving to some sort of key-value pair or other store.