Some document types contain data that is formatted in a table. Create a table field to
enable extraction of data that is displayed in a table.
About this task
This task assumes that you are adding a field as part of teaching your data extraction
model. You have a sample document open that contains the table you want to use to create the table
field.Tables can provide a number of corresponding data points. You might need only a small
subset of that data for your extraction process. When you define the fields to capture, you need to
create a definition for the values of fields that are relevant to your processing
goals.
Tables with well-defined borders (clear gridlines), multi-line headers, and multi-line
rows are supported. Table extraction has some limitations in the table summary and for complex
tables. For more information about Document Processing table limitations, see
IBM® Automation Document Processing limitations and Supported and
partially supported tables.
You can see the details of table detection improvements in
Table
detection improvements in IBM Automation Document Processing 22.0.1.
Procedure
To create a table field:
- From the Add fields tab, click Add
field.
- Enter a value for the Field display name. You can set this field
in any language, using any Unicode character.
- Enter a value for the Field symbolic name. This name is used to
reference this project in the code, and cannot be changed. It cannot have spaces or special
characters.
- In Value format, select Table.
- In Field type, you can select an existing field type if there is
one. In this case, the rest of the options to define your table become read-only, because you cannot
edit the attributes of an existing field type.
However, in most cases, no existing field type is available. In this case, leave that option
empty, and use the next settings in this dialog to define the table field attributes for your new
field. A new table field is created automatically when you save the table field.
- Enter alternative names, or aliases for your field. In a document, the same field can be
identified by different names, case, or phrasing, for example Purchase order
number, PO number, and PO#. In the
Alias section, you can add any alternative name that might come up for your
field.
- In Table headers, define the table columns that you want to
capture in your application. You should capture only the columns that are important for your runtime
applications, so it might not be necessary to capture all columns in the table. Some columns might
not appear in all sample documents, or some might not be needed by runtime applications. For each
table header that you need, enter the following information:
- Enter a display name and a symbolic name for the column. This name does not have to be
the same as the actual text of the column header in your samples.
- Enter the field type for the column, for example String, Date, Numeric, Decimal, and
so on.
- Specify whether the value is required and/or sensitive.
Click Add table header to capture all the necessary columns. If you decide
that you do not need a table header that you created, you can use the trash can icon to delete
it.
- If your table contains summary information that applies only to a single column, select
This table contains summary data. This is for items like Sub-total, Sales
tax, Shipping, or Grand total that often appear at the end of a table, but only apply to the
rightmost column of the table. If you do have summary table rows, then for each one enter the
following information:
- Enter a display name and a symbolic name for the summary field.
- Enter the field type for the summary field, for example String, Date, Numeric,
Decimal, and so on.
- Specify whether the value is required and/or sensitive.
- If your table contains additional, non-summary information in a table cell, select
This table contains additional data. If you do have additional cells, then
for each one enter the following information:
- Enter a display name and a symbolic name for the additional field.
- Enter the field type for the additional field, for example String, Date, Numeric,
Decimal, and so on.
- Specify whether the value is required and/or sensitive.
- Make sure to add all of the table headers, summary headers, and additional headers for
your field before saving the table. It is not possible to add, remove, or edit these attributes
after the table is created. When you are sure that you are done, click Add
field.
Results
After you enter all of the table information and save your table, you see the table and all of
its headers appear in a hierarchical form in the Add fields tab. The table
rows can be collapsed or expanded.
What to do next
After you add your table field, rerun the sample document so that the model can learn the
field details from your updated field. When you open the sample after you rerun the document, you
can check the values that are extracted from the table field that you created.