Create JSON data from Oracle 12c using SQL JSON functions

Question

Oracle DB version 12.2

I have the following data model with two tables:

SQL> desc TABLE_A
 Name                                      Null?    Type
 ----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
 FILENAME                                           VARCHAR2(100 CHAR)
 REPORT_DATE                                        VARCHAR2(12 CHAR)
 DOMAINCODE                                         VARCHAR2(10 CHAR)
 LEGALENTITYCODE                                    VARCHAR2(10 CHAR)

SQL> desc TABLE_B
 Name                                      Null?    Type
 ----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
 FILENAME                                           VARCHAR2(100 CHAR)
 NATIVEKEY                                          VARCHAR2(50 CHAR)
 MASTERKEY                                          VARCHAR2(50 CHAR)
 ENDDATE                                            VARCHAR2(12 CHAR)

SQL>

So, I got this basic join query to get the results I want

SELECT 
       a.REPORT_DATE,
       a.DOMAINCODE,
       a.LEGALENTITYCODE,
       b.nativekey,
       b.masterkey,
       b.enddate
  FROM    TABLE_A a
       INNER JOIN
          TABLE_B b
       ON (NVL (a.filename, 'XX') = NVL (b.filename, 'XX')) 
       where a.domaincode = '00001';

Which gives me:

My requirement is to print this data in the form of a JSON document like this:

{
"Date":"2020-03-31"
,"DomainCode":"00001"
,"LegalEntityCode":"00055"
,"Keys":[
{
"NativeKey":"129582692"
,"MasterKey":"329323111430011996"
,"EndDate":"9999-12-31"
}
,{
"NativeKey":"14735034"
,"MasterKey":"329390935000331576"
,"EndDate":"9999-12-31"
}
]
}

As you can see above, the hierarchy of the data appears only once in the document, at the beginning. I've been playing around with SQL/JSON functions on 12.2, but I always got the hierarchy on each record. I found a workaround using APEX_JSON, which gives me the format required, but its performance is not very good, and I am generating a document with 10 million rows. I know I can generate this using standard SQL and escaping/printing each special character, but I don't want to do that.

Is there any way to generate this in a standard way with JSON funcions like JSON_ARRAY and/or JSON_OBJECT?

Thank you all!

Answer 1

Did you try json_arrayagg ?

SELECT json_object('Date'            VALUE report_date,
                   'DomainCode'      value domaincode,
                   'Legalentitycode' value legalentitycode, 
                   'Keys'            VALUE json_arrayagg(
                                           json_object(
                                             'NativeKey' value nativekey,
                                             'MasterKey' value masterkey,
                                             'EndDate'   value enddate)))
  FROM  table_a a
  join table_b using (filename)
  GROUP BY filename, report_date, domaincode, legalentitycode;

dbfiddle

Answer 2

After dealing with the issue, I could not find any solution within my current version 12.2 without applying a specific patch

Following Metalink note: ORA-40478 or ORA-40459 running JSON Generation Functions (Doc ID 2354511.1)

Workaround in 12.2

• First apply <Patch 27521093: MERGE REQUEST ON TOP OF 12.2.0.1.0 FOR BUGS 24693010 25481087>
• Enable extended data types
• Set the returning clause of the json functions to varchar2(32767) or CLOB

So, the query should look like

SQL> SELECT JSON_OBJECT (
KEY 'json_data' VALUE json_data returning varchar2(32767)
)
FROM huge_json_value;

Or

select JSON_OBJECT(
KEY 'objects' VALUE
(SELECT JSON_ARRAYAGG(
JSON_OBJECT(
KEY 'object_type' VALUE object_type,
KEY 'object_name' VALUE object_name
)
returning varchar2(32767))
FROM dba_objects where rownum < 100
)
returning CLOB)
from dual;