FOR JSON RAW

This clause is the recommended method for retrieving query results as JSON objects as it is the easiest method to parse and understand.

The following query uses FOR JSON RAW to return employee information from the Employees table:

SELECT
   emp.EmployeeID,
   so.CustomerID,
   so.Region
FROM Employees AS emp KEY JOIN SalesOrders AS so WHERE emp.EmployeeID <= 195
ORDER BY 1
FOR JSON RAW;

Unlike the results returned if using FOR JSON AUTO, which would hierarchically nest the results, using FOR JSON RAW returns a flattened result set:

[
   { "EmployeeID" : 129, "CustomerID" : 107, "Region" : "Eastern" },
   { "EmployeeID" : 129, "CustomerID" : 119, "Region" : "Western" },
   ...
   { "EmployeeID" : 129, "CustomerID" : 131, "Region" : "Eastern" },
   { "EmployeeID" " 195, "CustomerID" : 176, "Region" : "Eastern" }
]

• SELECT statement