Dump PostgreSQL table with JSONB column, qualifying by some JSON value, formatting for presentation using Heroku Dataclips

README.md

A while back, I wrote a script to do daily dumps of a PostgreSQL table with a JSONB column. This was something an intern did daily for a client.

However, as summer came, we needed to automate this. The simplest and quickest solution turned out to do this using Heroku Dataclips.

I wasn’t aware of the JSON functions and operators of PostgreSQL, allowing you to both SELECT stuff from inside the JSON, and use in WHERE predicates. (It appears that you can even set up indexes on JSON values.)

dump_postgresql_table_with_jsonb_column_as_heroku_dataclip.sql

SELECT
  TO_CHAR(created_at::timestamptz AT TIME ZONE 'CEST', 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24.MI.SS') AS "Date",
  (json->>'firstName') || ' ' || (json->>'lastName') AS "Name",
  json->>'email' AS "Email",
  json->>'phone' AS "Phone",
  json->>'whatever' AS "Whatever",
  json#>>'{stuff, 0}' AS "Stuff 1",
  json#>>'{stuff, 1}' AS "Stuff 2",
  json#>>'{stuff, 2}' AS "Stuff 3"
FROM some_table
WHERE something = 'whatever' AND
  json->>'whatever' IN ('whatever', 'something else', 'another thing')
ORDER BY id DESC