OPENJSON function parses collection of JSON objects and returns values from JSON text as set of rows.

declare @json nvarchar(4000) = N'[
  {"Number":"SO43659","Date":"2011-05-31T00:00:00","Customer": "MSFT","Price":59.99,"Quantity":1},
  {"Number":"SO43661","Date":"2011-06-01T00:00:00","Customer":"Nokia","Price":24.99,"Quantity":3}
]'

SELECT    * 
FROM OPENJSON (@json)
    WITH (
          Number   varchar(200),
          Date     datetime,
          Customer varchar(200),
          Quantity int
  )

In the WITH clause is specified return schema of OPENJSON function. Keys in the JSON objects are fetched by column names. If some key in JSON is not specified in the WITH clause (e.g. Price in this example) it will be ignored. Values are automatically converted into specified types.

Number	Date	Customer	Quantity
SO43659	2011-05-31T00:00:00	MSFT	1
SO43661	2011-06-01T00:00:00	Nokia	3

OPENJSON function parse JSON text and returns all key:value pairs at the first level of JSON:

declare @json NVARCHAR(4000) = N'{"Name":"Joe","age":27,"skills":["C#","SQL"]}';
SELECT * FROM OPENJSON(@json);

key	value	type
Name	Joe	1
age	27	2
skills	["C#","SQL"]	4

Column type describe the type of value, i.e. null(0), string(1), number(2), boolean(3), array(4), and object(5).

OPENJSON function parses collection of JSON objects and returns values from JSON text as set of rows. If the values in input object are nested, additional mapping parameter can be specified in each column in WITH clause:

declare @json nvarchar(4000) = N'[
  {"data":{"num":"SO43659","date":"2011-05-31T00:00:00"},"info":{"customer":"MSFT","Price":59.99,"qty":1}},
  {"data":{"number":"SO43661","date":"2011-06-01T00:00:00"},"info":{"customer":"Nokia","Price":24.99,"qty":3}}
]'

SELECT    * 
FROM OPENJSON (@json)
    WITH (
          Number   varchar(200) '$.data.num',
          Date     datetime '$.data.date',
          Customer varchar(200) '$.info.customer',
          Quantity int '$.info.qty',
  )

In the WITH clause is specified return schema of OPENJSON function. After the type is specified path to the JSON nodes where returned value should be found. Keys in the JSON objects are fetched by these paths. Values are automatically converted into specified types.

Number	Date	Customer	Quantity
SO43659	2011-05-31T00:00:00	MSFT	1
SO43661	2011-06-01T00:00:00	Nokia	3

OPENJSON can extract fragments of JSON objects inside the JSON text. In the column definition that references JSON sub-object set the type nvarchar(max) and AS JSON option:

declare @json nvarchar(4000) = N'[
  {"Number":"SO43659","Date":"2011-05-31T00:00:00","info":{"customer":"MSFT","Price":59.99,"qty":1}},
  {"Number":"SO43661","Date":"2011-06-01T00:00:00","info":{"customer":"Nokia","Price":24.99,"qty":3}}
]'

SELECT    * 
FROM OPENJSON (@json)
    WITH (
          Number   varchar(200),
          Date     datetime,
          Info nvarchar(max) '$.info' AS JSON
  )

Info column will be mapped to "Info" object. Results will be:

Number	Date	Info
SO43659	2011-05-31T00:00:00	{"customer":"MSFT","Price":59.99,"qty":1}
SO43661	2011-06-01T00:00:00	{"customer":"Nokia","Price":24.99,"qty":3}

JSON may have complex structure with inner arrays. In this example, we have array of orders with nested sub array of OrderItems.

declare @json nvarchar(4000) = N'[
  {"Number":"SO43659","Date":"2011-05-31T00:00:00",
    "Items":[{"Price":11.99,"Quantity":1},{"Price":12.99,"Quantity":5}]},
  {"Number":"SO43661","Date":"2011-06-01T00:00:00",
    "Items":[{"Price":21.99,"Quantity":3},{"Price":22.99,"Quantity":2},{"Price":23.99,"Quantity":2}]}
]'

We can parse root level properties using OPENJSON that will return Items array AS JSON fragment. Then we can apply OPENJSON again on Items array and open inner JSON table. First level table and inner table will be "joined" like in the JOIN between standard tables:

SELECT    * 
FROM
    OPENJSON (@json)
    WITH (  Number varchar(200), Date datetime,
            Items nvarchar(max) AS JSON )
        CROSS APPLY 
            OPENJSON (Items)
            WITH ( Price float, Quantity int)

Results:

Number	Date	Items	Price	Quantity
SO43659	2011-05-31 00:00:00.000	[{"Price":11.99,"Quantity":1},{"Price":12.99,"Quantity":5}]	11.99	1
SO43659	2011-05-31 00:00:00.000	[{"Price":11.99,"Quantity":1},{"Price":12.99,"Quantity":5}]	12.99	5
SO43661	2011-06-01 00:00:00.000	[{"Price":21.99,"Quantity":3},{"Price":22.99,"Quantity":2},{"Price":23.99,"Quantity":2}]	21.99	3
SO43661	2011-06-01 00:00:00.000	[{"Price":21.99,"Quantity":3},{"Price":22.99,"Quantity":2},{"Price":23.99,"Quantity":2}]	22.99	2
SO43661	2011-06-01 00:00:00.000	[{"Price":21.99,"Quantity":3},{"Price":22.99,"Quantity":2},{"Price":23.99,"Quantity":2}]	23.99	2