HPCC-31504 Improve how ParquetWriter creates columns from ECL rows

[jackdelv]

Type of change:

• This change is a bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue).
• This change is a new feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality).
• This change improves the code (refactor or other change that does not change the functionality)
• This change fixes warnings (the fix does not alter the functionality or the generated code)
• This change is a breaking change (fix or feature that will cause existing behavior to change).
• This change alters the query API (existing queries will have to be recompiled)

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• My code follows the code style of this project.
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• The change has been fully tested:
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Testing:

[jackdelv]

After rebasing to 9.4.x it has conflicts with defines solved by JIRA HPCC-31301.

[ghalliday]

I'm waiting for @dcamper to do a first review. Let me know if you would find it valuable for me to take a look first.

[jackdelv]

@ghalliday If you could take a look that would be great. Thank you!

[dcamper]

Nice to see RapidJSON removed!

[ghalliday]

I've scanned the changes and they look like a good improvement - anything that deletes 300 lines has got to be good! I didn't spot any problems.

[ghalliday]

@jackdelv can you change this to a normal PR rather than a draft, and I will merge? Draft normally means it isn't considered ready for merging, and it has been opened for initial discussion review. Otherwise please open as non-draft.

[jackdelv]

@ghalliday Changed to normal PR. Thank you!

[ghalliday]

@jackdelv this is not currently building on some of the systems.
A short-term fix is to add
#undef BOOL
after the #includes

A better fix, which seems to work, is to delete the definition from platform.h (line 364).

[jackdelv]

@ghalliday Doesn't this PR, #18310, already fix this, or is it easier to include the fix in this one?

[ghalliday]

Well spotted. I will cherry-pick that back to 9.4.x and then rerun the tests.

[github-actions]

Jira Issue: https://hpccsystems.atlassian.net//browse/HPCC-31504

Jirabot Action Result:
Workflow Transition: Merge Pending
Updated PR