In relational databases, SQL aliases are used to temporarily rename a table or a column heading. Similarly, in DocumentDB, aliases are used to temporarily rename a JSON document, sub-document, object or any field.

The renaming is a temporary change and the actual document does not change. Basically, aliases are created to make field/document names more readable. For aliasing, AS keyword is used which is optional.

Let’s consider three similar documents from the ones used in previous examples.

Following is the AndersenFamily document.

{ 
   "id": "AndersenFamily", 
   "lastName": "Andersen", 
	
   "parents": [ 
      { "firstName": "Thomas", "relationship":  "father" }, 
      { "firstName": "Mary Kay", "relationship":  "mother" } 
   ],
   
   "children": [ 
      { 
         "firstName": "Henriette Thaulow", 
         "gender": "female", 
         "grade": 5, 
         "pets": [ { "givenName": "Fluffy", "type":  "Rabbit" } ] 
      } 
   ],
   
   "location": { "state": "WA", "county": "King", "city": "Seattle" }, 
   "isRegistered": true 
}

Following is the SmithFamily document.

{ 
   "id": "SmithFamily",
	
   "parents": [ 
      { "familyName": "Smith", "givenName": "James" }, 
      { "familyName": "Curtis", "givenName": "Helen" }
   ],
   
   "children": [ 
      { 
         "givenName": "Michelle", 
         "gender": "female", 
         "grade": 1 
      },
		
      { 
         "givenName": "John", 
         "gender": "male", 
         "grade": 7,
			
         "pets": [ 
            { "givenName": "Tweetie", "type": "Bird" } 
         ] 
      } 
   ],
   
   "location": { 
      "state": "NY", 
      "county": "Queens", 
      "city": "Forest Hills" 
   },
   
   "isRegistered": true 
}

Following is the WakefieldFamily document.

{ 
   "id": "WakefieldFamily", 
	
   "parents": [ 
      { "familyName": "Wakefield", "givenName": "Robin" }, 
      { "familyName": "Miller", "givenName": "Ben" } 
   ],
   
   "children": [ 
      { 
         "familyName": "Merriam", 
         "givenName": "Jesse", 
         "gender": "female", 
         "grade": 6,
			
         "pets": [ 
            { "givenName": "Charlie Brown", "type": "Dog" }, 
            { "givenName": "Tiger", "type": "Cat" }, 
            { "givenName": "Princess", "type": "Cat" } 
         ] 
      },
		
      { 
         "familyName": "Miller", 
         "givenName": "Lisa", 
         "gender": "female", 
         "grade": 3, 
			
         "pets": [ 
            { "givenName": "Jake", "type": "Snake" } 
         ] 
      } 
   ],
   
   "location": { "state": "NY", "county": "Manhattan", "city": "NY" }, 
   "isRegistered": false 
} 

Let’s take a look at an example to discuss the aliases.

Following is the query which will join the root to children subdocument. We have aliases such as f.id AS familyName, c.givenName AS childGivenName, and c.firstName AS childFirstName.

SELECT  
   f.id AS familyName, 
   c.givenName AS childGivenName, 
   c.firstName AS childFirstName 
FROM Families f  
JOIN c IN f.children

When the above query is executed, it produces the following output.

[ 
   { 
      "familyName": "WakefieldFamily", 
      "childGivenName": "Jesse" 
   },
	
   { 
      "familyName": "WakefieldFamily",
	  "childGivenName": "Lisa" 
   },
	
   { 
      "familyName": "SmithFamily", 
      "childGivenName": "Michelle" 
   },
	
   { 
      "familyName": "SmithFamily", 
      "childGivenName": "John" 
   },
	
   { 
      "familyName": "AndersenFamily", 
      "childFirstName": "Henriette Thaulow" 
   } 
]

The above output shows that the filed names are changed, but it is a temporary change and the original documents are not modified.