cli composite type literal with empty string component

[Bryce Allen]

I have a CF defined like this in CLI syntax:

create column family Test
    with key_validation_class = UTF8Type
    and comparator = 'CompositeType(AsciiType, UTF8Type)'
    and default_validation_class = UTF8Type
    and column_metadata = [
        { column_name : 'deleted:',
          validation_class : BooleanType },
        { column_name : 'version:',
          validation_class : LongType },
    ];

I expected these columns to map to ("deleted", "") and ("version", "")
in pycassa, but this is not the case:

  TEST.insert("r1", { ("deleted", ""): False, ("version", ""): 1,
                      ("a", "b"): "c" })
  AttributeError: 'int' object has no attribute 'encode'

  TEST.column_validators
  {'\x00\x07deleted\x00': 'BooleanType',
   '\x00\x07version\x00': 'LongType'}

The obvious workaround is to use pycassa to define the schema:

  SYSTEM_MANAGER.create_column_family("test", "Test2",
    key_validation_class=UTF8_TYPE,
    comparator_type=CompositeType(ASCII_TYPE, UTF8_TYPE),
    default_validation_class=UTF8_TYPE,
    column_validation_classes={
      ("version", ""): LONG_TYPE,
      ("deleted", ""): BOOLEAN_TYPE })

and this does really produce a different schema:
  
  TEST2.column_validators
  {'\x00\x07version\x00\x00\x00\x00': 'LongType',
   '\x00\x07deleted\x00\x00\x00\x00': 'BooleanType'}

To mimic what CLI does, I leave off the last component instead of
using "":

  SYSTEM_MANAGER.create_column_family("test", "Test3",
    key_validation_class=UTF8_TYPE,
    comparator_type=CompositeType(ASCII_TYPE, UTF8_TYPE),
    default_validation_class=UTF8_TYPE,
    column_validation_classes={
      ("version",): LONG_TYPE,
      ("deleted",): BOOLEAN_TYPE })

  TEST3.column_validators
  {'\x00\x07deleted\x00': 'BooleanType',
   '\x00\x07version\x00': 'LongType'}

But I see no way to address these columns from pycassa. I have a
workaround, but I find the inconsistency perplexing, and would rather
not have to do the busywork to convert my schema syntax. Is there a way
to address columns with an empty string component in the CLI?

Thanks,
Bryce

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