Exclude Blank Rows from Base Layer When Using Space Trap
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Hello! I am trying to import a difficult PDF that spans several hundred pages. I am working with a data set in which my base layer contains five columns (see the example image). Overall, each of the five columns contains various data and blank fields. However, blank fields are a continuation of the previous record. Because all five fields may be blank or have data, I am having difficulty setting a trap. I have set my trap using spaces, which is not ideal. However, because of this, my base layer captures blank lines in the report. This is problematic because the base layer attributes for blank cells are set to “use value from previous record.” Therefore, my blank lines are populating as records based on previous records; these extra records are sometimes duplicates and other times a hodgepodge of previous records because there are other layers in the document that append to the base layer. There is a blank row on each page of the document; therefore, it is not feasible to manually exclude each line from the output. Do you have any suggestions on how I can exclude from the base layer rows that are entirely blank?
This is a tough one. I was
This is a tough one. I was thinking of bringing it in as two separate templates using one pass to bring in items that are non-blank on a field and then one being blank and then appending them but then I realized you loose the order which is important to populate the blank field.
What I would probably try is bring in all the fields into IDEA and each row would be one record in IDEA. Then using IDEA virtual field parse out the information from the different fields that are needed. Once that is done you can use the fill down utility in the SmartAnalyzer utility app (available on passport if you don't already have it) and populate the blanks. Not an easy project but based on the info you have given I think it should be doable.