fix(node): support specifying arrow field types by name (#2704)

The [`FieldLike` type in
arrow.ts](5ec12c9971/nodejs/lancedb/arrow.ts (L71-L78))
can have a `type: string` property, but before this change, actually
trying to create a table that has a schema that specifies field types by
name results in an error:

```
Error: Expected a Type but object was null/undefined
```

This change adds support for mapping some type name strings to arrow
`DataType`s, so that passing `FieldLike`s with a `type: string` property
to `sanitizeField` does not throw an error.

The type names that can be passed are upper/lowercase variations of the
keys of the `constructorsByTypeName` object. This does not support
mapping types that need parameters, such as timestamps which need
timezones.

With this, it is possible to create empty tables from `SchemaLike`
objects without instantiating arrow types, e.g.:

```
    import { SchemaLike } from "../lancedb/arrow"
    // ...
    const schemaLike = {
      fields: [
        {
          name: "id",
          type: "int64",
          nullable: true,
        },
        {
          name: "vector",
          type: "float64",
          nullable: true,
        },
      ],
    // ...
    } satisfies SchemaLike;
    const table = await con.createEmptyTable("test", schemaLike);
 ```

This change also makes `FieldLike.nullable` required since the `sanitizeField` function throws if it is undefined.

nodejs/lancedb/arrow.ts

@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export type FieldLike =
   | {
       type: string;
       name: string;
-      nullable?: boolean;
+      nullable: boolean;
       metadata?: Map<string, string>;
     };
 

nodejs/lancedb/sanitize.ts

@@ -326,6 +326,9 @@ export function sanitizeDictionary(typeLike: object) {
 
 // biome-ignore lint/suspicious/noExplicitAny: skip
 export function sanitizeType(typeLike: unknown): DataType<any> {
+  if (typeof typeLike === "string") {
+    return dataTypeFromName(typeLike);
+  }
   if (typeof typeLike !== "object" || typeLike === null) {
     throw Error("Expected a Type but object was null/undefined");
   }
@@ -447,7 +450,7 @@ export function sanitizeType(typeLike: unknown): DataType<any> {
     case Type.DurationSecond:
       return new DurationSecond();
     default:
-      throw new Error("Unrecoginized type id in schema: " + typeId);
+      throw new Error("Unrecognized type id in schema: " + typeId);
   }
 }
 
@@ -467,7 +470,15 @@ export function sanitizeField(fieldLike: unknown): Field {
       "The field passed in is missing a `type`/`name`/`nullable` property",
     );
   }
-  const type = sanitizeType(fieldLike.type);
+  let type: DataType;
+  try {
+    type = sanitizeType(fieldLike.type);
+  } catch (error: unknown) {
+    throw Error(
+      `Unable to sanitize type for field: ${fieldLike.name} due to error: ${error}`,
+      { cause: error },
+    );
+  }
   const name = fieldLike.name;
   if (!(typeof name === "string")) {
     throw Error("The field passed in had a non-string `name` property");
@@ -581,3 +592,46 @@ function sanitizeData(
     },
   );
 }
+
+const constructorsByTypeName = {
+  null: () => new Null(),
+  binary: () => new Binary(),
+  utf8: () => new Utf8(),
+  bool: () => new Bool(),
+  int8: () => new Int8(),
+  int16: () => new Int16(),
+  int32: () => new Int32(),
+  int64: () => new Int64(),
+  uint8: () => new Uint8(),
+  uint16: () => new Uint16(),
+  uint32: () => new Uint32(),
+  uint64: () => new Uint64(),
+  float16: () => new Float16(),
+  float32: () => new Float32(),
+  float64: () => new Float64(),
+  datemillisecond: () => new DateMillisecond(),
+  dateday: () => new DateDay(),
+  timenanosecond: () => new TimeNanosecond(),
+  timemicrosecond: () => new TimeMicrosecond(),
+  timemillisecond: () => new TimeMillisecond(),
+  timesecond: () => new TimeSecond(),
+  intervaldaytime: () => new IntervalDayTime(),
+  intervalyearmonth: () => new IntervalYearMonth(),
+  durationnanosecond: () => new DurationNanosecond(),
+  durationmicrosecond: () => new DurationMicrosecond(),
+  durationmillisecond: () => new DurationMillisecond(),
+  durationsecond: () => new DurationSecond(),
+} as const;
+
+type MappableTypeName = keyof typeof constructorsByTypeName;
+
+export function dataTypeFromName(typeName: string): DataType {
+  const normalizedTypeName = typeName.toLowerCase() as MappableTypeName;
+  const _constructor = constructorsByTypeName[normalizedTypeName];
+
+  if (!_constructor) {
+    throw new Error("Unrecognized type name in schema: " + typeName);
+  }
+
+  return _constructor();
+}