CompareFilter.CompareOp compareOp = FilterHelper.getCompareOp(columnFilter
.getFilterType());
ColumnAlias alias = columnFilter.getColumnAlias();
byte[] family = Bytes.toBytes(alias.getColumnFamily());
byte[] qualifier = Bytes.toBytes(alias.getQualifier());
WritableByteArrayComparable comparator = getComparator(columnFilter.getFilterType(), alias, columnFilter.getValue(), 0, -1);
logger.debug("Comparator is " + comparator);
SingleColumnValueFilter filter = new SingleColumnValueFilter(family, qualifier,
compareOp, comparator);
//if the column does not exist, do not include
filter.setFilterIfMissing(true);