BUG: fix #2299?

Author: wesm

pandas/io/pytables.py

@@ -509,8 +509,9 @@ def _write_block_manager(self, group, data):
         group._v_attrs.nblocks = nblocks
         for i in range(nblocks):
             blk = data.blocks[i]
-            self._write_index(group, 'block%d_items' % i, blk.items)
+            # I have no idea why, but writing values before items fixed #2299
             self._write_array(group, 'block%d_values' % i, blk.values)
+            self._write_index(group, 'block%d_items' % i, blk.items)
 
     def _read_block_manager(self, group):
         ndim = group._v_attrs.ndim
@@ -697,6 +698,7 @@ def _write_array(self, group, key, value):
         # Transform needed to interface with pytables row/col notation
         empty_array = any(x == 0 for x in value.shape)
         transposed = False
+
         if not empty_array:
             value = value.T
             transposed = True