VS Crashes when using T-SQL OPENJSON and SELECT * - json

Question

When using the below code the VS 2019 crashed without fail. Though it was originally working, possibly prior to a recent update (or upgrade to VS 2019 from VS 2017)
The error message implied a too long identifier and related to a specific file. I temp resolved this by accessing my project via Team Explorer as opposed to startup window. It resurfaced as soon as I edited the file. So I went line-by-line to find the culprit, the code below is the culprit. I cannot understand why it causes the crash.
DECLARE #Characteristics nvarchar(4000) = (SELECT * FROM OPENJSON(#Details)
WITH ([Firstname] nvarchar(256) N'$.firstname',[Lastname] nvarchar(256) N'$.lastname') FOR JSON PATH, WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER);
It's a legitimate command and SQL accepts including deployments. For my purposes and because I control the WITH clause, "SELECT *", is an acceptable deviation from my practice of stating the columns in the SELECT clause.
VS no longer crashes now that I declare each expected column in the SELECT clause. If somebody has an alternative resolution to solving this problem I would appreciate it.

Answer 1

You do not show enough - at least for me - to understand your issue completely...
What I get:
You want to use SELECT *
You are controlling the WITH clause (I assume: You build it dynamically in your application)
You did not show the actual error message (please do this the next time), but I get, that the error depends on the difference of
SELECT * FROM ...
SELECT Firstname, Lastname FROM ...
I cannot reproduce your issue, but I guess, that there are more sources involved in your actual statement and that * might include more than you tell us.
Did you try to use a table alias after the WITH?
DECLARE #Details NVARCHAR(MAX)=N'[{"a":"a1", "b":"b1"},{"a":"a2","b":"b2"}]';
SELECT
(
SELECT tbl.* --<-- Using "tbl.*" instead of "*"
FROM OPENJSON(#Details)
WITH(a NVARCHAR(100)
,b NVARCHAR(100)) tbl --<-- table alias "tbl"
FOR JSON PATH, WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER
);