JSON without array wrapper on lower levels

Question

All I try to get is a simple SQL statement to build:

 {\"status\":{\"code\":404,\"message\":\"Not found\"},\"otherthing\":20}

If I set as :

Answer 1

It's not exact answer to your question, but I hope it will give solution to your problem.

You can construct expected output without nested query, just define hierarchy using property names, like this:

DECLARE @ReturnJSON nvarchar(max)

SET @ReturnJSON = (
    SELECT 
        404 as [status.code]
        ,'Not found' as [status.message]
        , 20 as [otherthing]
    FOR JSON PATH, WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER) ;

SELECT @ReturnJSON