From 21127c4f72db6b94502e9c35657162f539d049d0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steph Prince <40640337+stephprince@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2024 00:15:27 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] convert compound dtype to list on read

---
 src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py | 4 ++++
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py b/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py
index da7f78a91..36aeb7c8f 100644
--- a/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py
+++ b/src/hdmf/backends/hdf5/h5tools.py
@@ -700,6 +700,10 @@ def __read_dataset(self, h5obj, name=None):
                 kwargs['dtype'] = d.dtype
             elif h5obj.dtype.kind == 'V':  # scalar compound data type
                 kwargs['data'] = np.array(scalar, dtype=h5obj.dtype)
+                cpd_dt = h5obj.dtype
+                ref_cols = [check_dtype(ref=cpd_dt[i]) or check_dtype(vlen=cpd_dt[i]) for i in range(len(cpd_dt))]
+                d = BuilderH5TableDataset(h5obj, self, ref_cols)
+                kwargs['dtype'] = HDF5IO.__compound_dtype_to_list(h5obj.dtype, d.dtype)
             else:
                 kwargs["data"] = scalar
         else:

From 4ca90ced44e4af78fe64918af88cddcd30a53e68 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steph Prince <40640337+stephprince@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2024 00:15:55 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] revert dtype list checks in validator

---
 src/hdmf/validate/validator.py | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/hdmf/validate/validator.py b/src/hdmf/validate/validator.py
index 2668da1ec..6ce211f96 100644
--- a/src/hdmf/validate/validator.py
+++ b/src/hdmf/validate/validator.py
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ def get_type(data, builder_dtype=None):
     # Case for h5py.Dataset and other I/O specific array types
     else:
         # Compound dtype
-        if builder_dtype and len(builder_dtype) > 1:
+        if builder_dtype and isinstance(builder_dtype, list):
             dtypes = []
             string_formats = []
             for i in range(len(builder_dtype)):
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ def validate(self, **kwargs):
             except EmptyArrayError:
                 # do not validate dtype of empty array. HDMF does not yet set dtype when writing a list/tuple
                 pass
-        if builder.dtype is not None and len(builder.dtype) > 1 and len(np.shape(builder.data)) == 0:
+        if isinstance(builder.dtype, list) and len(np.shape(builder.data)) == 0:
             shape = ()  # scalar compound dataset
         elif isinstance(builder.dtype, list):
             shape = (len(builder.data), )  # only 1D datasets with compound types are supported

From 402454f724f12d7ec9477c6ac5e0e9cd6a6b3397 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steph Prince <40640337+stephprince@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2024 10:04:47 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] update CHANGELOG.md

---
 CHANGELOG.md | 5 +++++
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 97d89e320..4898af91b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # HDMF Changelog
 
+## HDMF 3.14.5 (Upcoming)
+
+### Bug fixes
+- Fixed export of scalar datasets with a compound data type. @stephprince [#1185](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf/pull/1185)
+
 ## HDMF 3.14.4 (August 22, 2024)
 
 ### Enhancements