Editing PDF Table Parsing (section)

=== 4. Parent-Child Row Relationships Require Forward-Fill Support ===

Some PDF tables use parent rows to list primary information, while subsequent child rows only list detail fields. For example, a parent row may contain a main category, group name, case number, or summary information, while child rows only list sub-item numbers, detail names, or detailed content.

These tables require forward-fill support, where child rows inherit field values from the parent row.

Design considerations include:

* Parent row state should be isolated by context such as <code>section</code>, <code>subsection</code>, and <code>table_type</code>.
* Parent row state may need to persist across pages.
* A single text field should not be used as the parent row identifier, because different parent rows may have identical or similar names.
* Backfilling should consider at least the section, subsection, table type, and parent-row identifier.

When the section or table changes, parent row state should be explicitly reset to avoid carrying data from the previous table into the next one.