diff --git a/pyaccuwage/__init__.py b/pyaccuwage/__init__.py
index 513b8c6..810de18 100644
--- a/pyaccuwage/__init__.py
+++ b/pyaccuwage/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
-from collections import Callable
+try:
+    from collections import Callable
+except:
+    from typing import Callable # Python 3.10+
 
-VERSION = (0, 2012, 0)
+VERSION = (0, 2025, 0)
 
 RECORD_TYPES = [
     'SubmitterRecord',
@@ -55,16 +58,21 @@ def loads(s, record_types=get_record_types()):
 
 
 def dump(fp, records, delim=None):
+    if type(delim) is str:
+        delim = delim.encode('ascii')
     for r in records:
         fp.write(r.output())
         if delim:
             fp.write(delim)
 
 
-def dumps(records, delim=None):
+def dumps(records, delim=None, skip_validation=False):
     import io
     fp = io.BytesIO()
-    dump(records, fp, delim=delim)
+    if not skip_validation:
+        for record in records:
+            record.validate()
+    dump(fp, records, delim=delim)
     fp.seek(0)
     return fp.read()
 
diff --git a/pyaccuwage/enums.py b/pyaccuwage/enums.py
index 8c96ebf..66a8722 100644
--- a/pyaccuwage/enums.py
+++ b/pyaccuwage/enums.py
@@ -323,6 +323,7 @@ employment_codes = (
         )
 
 tax_jurisdiction_codes = (
+        (' ', 'W-2'),
         ('V', 'Virgin Islands'),
         ('G', 'Guam'),
         ('S', 'American Samoa'),
diff --git a/pyaccuwage/fields.py b/pyaccuwage/fields.py
index 0d6fcd3..8291d63 100644
--- a/pyaccuwage/fields.py
+++ b/pyaccuwage/fields.py
@@ -21,12 +21,15 @@ class ValidationError(Exception):
 class Field(object):
     creation_counter = 0
     is_read_only = False
+    _value = None
 
-    def __init__(self, name=None, max_length=0, required=True, uppercase=True, creation_counter=None):
+    def __init__(self, name=None, min_length=0, max_length=0, blank=False, required=True, uppercase=True, creation_counter=None):
         self.name = name
         self._value = None
         self._orig_value = None
+        self.min_length = min_length
         self.max_length = max_length
+        self.blank = blank
         self.required = required
         self.uppercase = uppercase
         self.creation_counter = creation_counter or Field.creation_counter
@@ -96,9 +99,9 @@ class Field(object):
         wrapper.width = 100
         value = wrapper.wrap(value)
         value = list([(" " * 9) + ('"' + x + '"') for x in value])
-        value.append(" " * 10 + ('_' * 10) * (wrapper.width / 10))
-        value.append(" " * 10 + ('0123456789') * (wrapper.width / 10))
-        value.append(" " * 10 + ''.join(([str(x) + (' ' * 9) for x in range(wrapper.width / 10 )])))
+        value.append(" " * 10 + ('_' * 10) * int(wrapper.width / 10))
+        value.append(" " * 10 + ('0123456789') * int(wrapper.width / 10))
+        value.append(" " * 10 + ''.join(([str(x) + (' ' * 9) for x in range(int(wrapper.width / 10))])))
 
         start = counter['c']
         counter['c'] += len(self._orig_value or self.value)
@@ -118,11 +121,17 @@ class TextField(Field):
     def validate(self):
         if self.value is None and self.required:
             raise ValidationError("value required", field=self)
-        if len(self.get_data()) > self.max_length:
+        data = self.get_data()
+        if len(data) > self.max_length:
             raise ValidationError("value is too long", field=self)
+        stripped_data_length = len(data.strip())
+        if stripped_data_length < self.min_length:
+            raise ValidationError("value is too short", field=self)
+        if stripped_data_length == 0 and (not self.blank and self.required):
+            raise ValidationError("field cannot be blank", field=self)
 
     def get_data(self):
-        value = str(self.value).encode('ascii') or b''
+        value = str(self.value or '').encode('ascii') or b''
         if self.uppercase:
             value = value.upper()
         return value.ljust(self.max_length)[:self.max_length]
@@ -143,7 +152,7 @@ class TextField(Field):
 
 class StateField(TextField):
     def __init__(self, name=None, required=True, use_numeric=False, max_length=2):
-        super(StateField, self).__init__(name=name, max_length=2, required=required)
+        super(StateField, self).__init__(name=name, max_length=max_length, required=required)
         self.use_numeric = use_numeric
 
     def get_data(self):
@@ -195,15 +204,17 @@ class IntegerField(TextField):
 
 
 class StaticField(TextField):
-    def __init__(self, name=None, required=True, value=None):
-        super(StaticField, self).__init__(name=name, required=required,
-                                            max_length=len(value))
+    def __init__(self, name=None, required=True, value=None, uppercase=False):
+        super(StaticField, self).__init__(name=name,
+                required=required,
+                max_length=len(value),
+                uppercase=uppercase)
+        self._static_value = value
         self._value = value
 
     def parse(self, s):
         pass
 
-
 class BlankField(TextField):
     is_read_only = True
 
@@ -216,6 +227,10 @@ class BlankField(TextField):
     def parse(self, s):
         pass
 
+    def validate(self):
+        if len(self.get_data()) != self.max_length:
+            raise ValidationError("blank field did not match expected length", field=self)
+
 
 class ZeroField(BlankField):
     is_read_only = True
diff --git a/pyaccuwage/model.py b/pyaccuwage/model.py
index becd3ce..c950055 100644
--- a/pyaccuwage/model.py
+++ b/pyaccuwage/model.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class Model(object):
                     setattr(src_field, 'parent_name', self.__class__.__name__)
                 new_field_instance = copy.copy(src_field)
                 new_field_instance._orig_value = None
-                new_field_instance._value = None
+                new_field_instance._value = new_field_instance.value
                 self.__dict__[key] = new_field_instance
 
     def __setattr__(self, key, value):
@@ -36,11 +36,14 @@ class Model(object):
             self.__dict__[key] = value
 
     def set_field_value(self, field_name, value):
-        print('setfieldval: ' + field_name + ' ' + value)
         getattr(self, field_name).value = value
 
     def get_fields(self):
-        identifier = TextField("record_identifier", max_length=len(self.record_identifier), creation_counter=-1)
+        identifier = TextField(
+                "record_identifier",
+                max_length = len(self.record_identifier),
+                blank = len(self.record_identifier) == 0,
+                creation_counter=-1)
         identifier.value = self.record_identifier
         fields = [identifier]
 
@@ -87,7 +90,6 @@ class Model(object):
         # Skip the first record, since that's an identifier
         for field in self.get_sorted_fields()[1:]:
             field.read(fp)
-            print(field.name, '"' + (str(field.value) or '') + '"', field.max_length, field._orig_value)
 
     def toJSON(self):
         return {
diff --git a/pyaccuwage/pdfextract.py b/pyaccuwage/pdfextract.py
index 2903b5d..352c400 100644
--- a/pyaccuwage/pdfextract.py
+++ b/pyaccuwage/pdfextract.py
@@ -3,313 +3,102 @@
 
 import subprocess
 import re
-import pdb
+import itertools
+import fitz
 
 """ pdftotext -layout -nopgbrk p1220.pdf - """
 
+def strip_values(items):
+    expr_non_alphanum = re.compile(r'[^\w\s]*', re.MULTILINE)
+    return [expr_non_alphanum.sub(x, '').strip().replace('\n', ' ') for x in items if x]
 
 class PDFRecordFinder(object):
-    def __init__(self, src, heading_exp=None):
-        if not heading_exp:
-            heading_exp = re.compile('(\s+Record Name: (.*))|Record\ Layout')
+    field_range_expr = re.compile(r'^(\d+)[-]?(\d*)$')
 
-        field_heading_exp = re.compile('^Field.*Field.*Length.*Description')
+    def __init__(self, src):
+        self.document = fitz.open(src)
 
-        opts = ["pdftotext", "-layout", "-nopgbrk", "-eol", "unix", src, '-']
-        pdftext = subprocess.check_output(opts)
-        self.textrows = pdftext.split('\n')
-        self.heading_exp = heading_exp
-        self.field_heading_exp = field_heading_exp
+    def find_record_table_ranges(self):
+        matches = []
+        for (page_number, page) in enumerate(self.document):
+            header_rects = page.search_for("Record Name:")
+            for header_match_rect in header_rects:
+                header_match_rect.x0 = header_match_rect.x1  # Start after match of "Record Name: "
+                header_match_rect.x1 = page.bound().x1  # Extend to right side of page
+                header_text = page.get_textbox(header_match_rect)
+                record_name = re.sub(r'[^\w\s\n]*', '', header_text).strip()
+                matches.append((record_name, {
+                    'page': page_number,
+                    'y': header_match_rect.y1 - 5,  # Back up a hair to include header more reliably
+                }))
+        return matches
+
+    def find_records(self):
+        record_ranges = self.find_record_table_ranges()
+        for record_index, (record_name, record_details) in enumerate(record_ranges):
+            current_rows = []
+            next_index = record_index+1
+            (_, next_record_details) = record_ranges[next_index] if next_index < len(record_ranges) else (None, {'page': self.document.page_count-1})
+            for page_number in range(record_details['page'], next_record_details['page']):
+                page = self.document[page_number]
+                table_search_rect = page.bound()
+                if page_number == record_details['page']:
+                    table_search_rect.y0 = record_details['y']
+                tables = page.find_tables(
+                        clip = table_search_rect,
+                        min_words_horizontal = 1,
+                        min_words_vertical = 1,
+                        horizontal_strategy = "lines_strict",
+                        intersection_tolerance = 1,
+                        )
+                for table in tables:
+                    if table.col_count == 4:
+                        table = table.extract()
+                        # Parse field position (sometimes a cell has multiple
+                        # values because IRS employees apparently smoke crack
+                        for row in table:
+                            first_column_lines = row[0].strip().split('\n')
+                            if len(first_column_lines) > 1:
+                                for sub_row in self.split_row(row):
+                                    current_rows.append(strip_values(sub_row))
+                            else:
+                                current_rows.append(strip_values(row))
+            consecutive_rows = self.filter_nonconsecutive_rows(current_rows)
+            yield(record_name, consecutive_rows)
+
+    def split_row(self, row):
+        if not row[1]:
+            return []
+        split_rows = list(itertools.zip_longest(*[x.strip().split('\n') for x in row[:3]], fillvalue=None))
+        description = strip_values([row[3]])[0]
+        rows = []
+        for row in split_rows:
+            if len(row) < 3 or not row[2]:
+                row = self.infer_field_length(row)
+            rows.append([*row, description])
+        return rows
+
+    def infer_field_length(self, row):
+        matches = PDFRecordFinder.field_range_expr.match(row[0])
+        if not matches:
+            return row
+        (start, end) = ([int(x) for x in list(matches.groups()) if x] + [None])[:2]
+        length = str(end-start+1) if end and start else '1'
+        return (*row[:2], length)
+
+    def filter_nonconsecutive_rows(self, rows):
+        consecutive_rows = []
+        last_position = 0
+        for row in rows:
+            matches = PDFRecordFinder.field_range_expr.match(row[0])
+            if not matches:
+                continue
+            (start, end) = ([int(x) for x in list(matches.groups()) if x] + [None])[:2]
+            if start != last_position + 1:
+                continue
+            last_position = end if end else start
+            consecutive_rows.append(row)
+        return consecutive_rows
 
     def records(self):
-        headings = self.locate_heading_rows_by_field()
-
-        #for x in headings:
-        #    print x
-
-        for (start, end, name) in headings:
-            name = name.decode('ascii', 'ignore')
-            yield (name, list(self.find_fields(iter(self.textrows[start+1:end]))), (start+1, end))
-
-
-    def locate_heading_rows_by_field(self):
-        results = []
-        record_break = []
-        line_is_whitespace_exp = re.compile('^(\s*)$')
-        record_begin_exp = self.heading_exp #re.compile('Record\ Name')
-
-        for (i, row) in enumerate(self.textrows):
-            match = self.field_heading_exp.match(row)
-            if match:
-                # work backwards until we think the header is fully copied
-                space_count_exp = re.compile('^(\s*)')
-                position = i - 1
-                spaces = 0
-                #last_spaces = 10000
-                complete = False
-                header = None
-                while not complete:
-                    line_is_whitespace = True if line_is_whitespace_exp.match(self.textrows[position]) else False
-                    is_record_begin = record_begin_exp.search(self.textrows[position])
-                    if is_record_begin or line_is_whitespace:
-                        header = self.textrows[position-1:i]
-                        complete = True
-                    position -= 1
-
-                name = ''.join(header).strip().decode('ascii','ignore')
-                print((name, position))
-                results.append((i, name, position))
-            else:
-                # See if this row forces us to break from field reading.
-                if re.search('Record\ Layout', row):
-                    record_break.append(i)
-
-        merged = []
-        for (a, b) in zip(results, results[1:] + [(len(self.textrows), None)]):
-            end_pos = None
-
-            #print a[0], record_break[0], b[0]-1
-
-            while record_break and record_break[0] < a[0]:
-                record_break = record_break[1:]
-
-            if record_break[0] < b[0]-1:
-                end_pos = record_break[0]
-                record_break = record_break[1:]
-            else:
-                end_pos = b[0]-1
-
-            merged.append( (a[0], end_pos-1, a[1]) )
-        return merged
-
-    """
-    def locate_heading_rows(self):
-        results = []
-        for (i, row) in enumerate(self.textrows):
-            match = self.heading_exp.match(row)
-            if match:
-                results.append((i, ''.join(match.groups())))
-
-        merged = []
-        for (a, b) in zip(results, results[1:] + [(len(self.textrows),None)]):
-            merged.append( (a[0], b[0]-1, a[1]) )
-
-        return merged
-
-    def locate_layout_block_rows(self):
-        # Search for rows that contain "Record Layout", as these are not fields
-        # we are interested in because they contain the crazy blocks of field definitions
-        # and not the nice 4-column ones that we're looking for.
-
-        results = []
-        for (i, row) in enumerate(self.textrows):
-            match = re.match("Record Layout", row)
-
-    """
-
-    def find_fields(self, row_iter):
-        cc = ColumnCollector()
-        blank_row_counter = 0
-
-        for r in row_iter:
-            row = r.decode('UTF-8')
-            #print row
-            row_columns = self.extract_columns_from_row(row)
-
-            if not row_columns:
-                if cc.data and len(list(cc.data.keys())) > 1 and len(row.strip()) > list(cc.data.keys())[-1]:
-                    yield cc
-                    cc = ColumnCollector()
-                else:
-                    cc.empty_row()
-                continue
-
-            try:
-                cc.add(row_columns)
-
-            except IsNextField as e:
-                yield cc
-                cc = ColumnCollector()
-                cc.add(row_columns)
-            except UnknownColumn as e:
-                raise StopIteration
-
-        yield cc
-
-
-    def extract_columns_from_row(self, row):
-        re_multiwhite = re.compile(r'\s{2,}')
-
-        # IF LINE DOESN'T CONTAIN MULTIPLE WHITESPACES, IT'S LIKELY NOT A TABLE
-        if not re_multiwhite.search(row):
-            return None
-
-        white_ranges = [0,]
-        pos = 0
-        while pos < len(row):
-            match = re_multiwhite.search(row[pos:])
-            if match:
-                white_ranges.append(pos + match.start())
-                white_ranges.append(pos + match.end())
-                pos += match.end()
-            else:
-                white_ranges.append(len(row))
-                pos = len(row)
-
-        row_result = []
-        white_iter = iter(white_ranges)
-        while white_iter:
-            try:
-                start = next(white_iter)
-                end = next(white_iter)
-                if start != end:
-                    row_result.append(
-                        (start, row[start:end].encode('ascii','ignore'))
-                    )
-
-            except StopIteration:
-                white_iter = None
-
-        #print row_result
-        return row_result
-
-
-class UnknownColumn(Exception):
-    pass
-
-class IsNextField(Exception):
-    pass
-
-class ColumnCollector(object):
-    def __init__(self, initial=None):
-        self.data = None
-        self.column_widths = None
-        self.max_data_length = 0
-        self.adjust_pad = 3
-        self.empty_rows = 0
-        pass
-
-    def __repr__(self):
-        return "<%s: %s>" % (
-                self.__class__.__name__,
-                [x if len(x) < 25 else x[:25] + '..' for x in list(self.data.values()) if self.data else ''])
-
-    def add(self, data):
-        #if self.empty_rows > 2:
-        #    raise IsNextField()
-
-        if not self.data:
-            self.data = dict(data)
-        else:
-            data = self.adjust_columns(data)
-            if self.is_next_field(data):
-                raise IsNextField()
-            for col_id, value in data:
-                self.merge_column(col_id, value)
-
-        self.update_column_widths(data)
-
-    def empty_row(self):
-        self.empty_rows += 1
-
-    def update_column_widths(self, data):
-        self.last_data_length = len(data)
-        self.max_data_length = max(self.max_data_length, len(data))
-
-        if not self.column_widths:
-            self.column_widths = dict([[column_value[0], column_value[0] + len(column_value[1])] for column_value in data])
-        else:
-            for col_id, value in data:
-                try:
-                    self.column_widths[col_id] = max(self.column_widths[col_id], col_id + len(value.strip()))
-                except KeyError:
-                    pass
-
-    def add_old(self, data):
-        if not self.data:
-            self.data = dict(data)
-        else:
-            if self.is_next_field(data):
-                raise IsNextField()
-            for col_id, value in data:
-                self.merge_column(col_id, value)
-
-
-    def adjust_columns(self, data):
-        adjusted_data = {}
-        for col_id, value in data:
-            if col_id in list(self.data.keys()):
-                adjusted_data[col_id] = value.strip()
-            else:
-                for col_start, col_end in list(self.column_widths.items()):
-                    if (col_start - self.adjust_pad) <= col_id and (col_end + self.adjust_pad) >= col_id:
-                        if col_start in adjusted_data:
-                            adjusted_data[col_start] += ' ' + value.strip()
-                        else:
-                            adjusted_data[col_start] = value.strip()
-
-        return list(adjusted_data.items())
-
-
-    def merge_column(self, col_id, value):
-        if col_id in list(self.data.keys()):
-            self.data[col_id] += ' ' + value.strip()
-        else:
-            # try adding a wiggle room value?
-            # FIXME:
-            # Sometimes description columns contain column-like
-            # layouts, and this causes the ColumnCollector to become
-            # confused. Perhaps we could check to see if a column occurs
-            # after the maximum column, and assume it's part of the
-            # max column?
-
-            """
-            for col_start, col_end in self.column_widths.items():
-                if col_start <= col_id and (col_end) >= col_id:
-                    self.data[col_start] += ' ' + value.strip()
-                    return
-            """
-            raise UnknownColumn
-
-    def is_next_field(self, data):
-        """
-        If the first key value contains a string
-        and we already have some data in the record,
-        then this row is probably the beginning of
-        the next field. Raise an exception and continue
-        on with a fresh ColumnCollector.
-        """
-
-        """ If the length of the value in column_id is less than the position of the next column_id,
-            then this is probably a continuation.
-        """
-
-        if self.data and data:
-            keys = list(dict(self.column_widths).keys())
-            keys.sort()
-            keys += [None]
-
-            if self.last_data_length < len(data):
-                return True
-
-            first_key, first_value = list(dict(data).items())[0]
-            if list(self.data.keys())[0] == first_key:
-
-                position = keys.index(first_key)
-                max_length = keys[position + 1]
-                if max_length:
-                    return len(first_value) > max_length or len(data) == self.max_data_length
-
-        return False
-
-
-    @property
-    def tuple(self):
-        #try:
-        if self.data:
-            return tuple([self.data[k] for k in sorted(self.data.keys())])
-        return ()
-        #except:
-        #    import pdb
-        #    pdb.set_trace()
-
+        return self.find_records()
diff --git a/pyaccuwage/record.py b/pyaccuwage/record.py
index 9e46217..6b91123 100644
--- a/pyaccuwage/record.py
+++ b/pyaccuwage/record.py
@@ -105,8 +105,8 @@ class EmployerRecord(EFW2Record):
     zipcode_ext =                   TextField(max_length=4, required=False)
     kind_of_employer =              TextField(max_length=1)
     blank1 =                        BlankField(max_length=4)
-    foreign_state_province =        TextField(max_length=23)
-    foreign_postal_code =           TextField(max_length=15)
+    foreign_state_province =        TextField(max_length=23, required=False)
+    foreign_postal_code =           TextField(max_length=15, required=False)
     country_code =                  TextField(max_length=2, required=False)
     employment_code =               TextField(max_length=1)
     tax_jurisdiction_code =         TextField(max_length=1, required=False)
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class EmployeeWageRecord(EFW2Record):
 
     ssn =                           IntegerField(max_length=9, required=False)
     employee_first_name =           TextField(max_length=15)
-    employee_middle_name =          TextField(max_length=15)
+    employee_middle_name =          TextField(max_length=15, required=False)
     employee_last_name =            TextField(max_length=20)
     employee_suffix =               TextField(max_length=4, required=False)
     location_address =              TextField(max_length=22)
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class EmployeeWageRecord(EFW2Record):
     blank1 =                        BlankField(max_length=5)
     foreign_state =                 TextField(max_length=23, required=False)
     foreign_postal_code =           TextField(max_length=15, required=False)
-    country =                       TextField(max_length=2)
+    country =                       TextField(max_length=2, required=True, blank=True)
     wages_tips =                    MoneyField(max_length=11)
     federal_income_tax_withheld =   MoneyField(max_length=11)
     social_security_wages =         MoneyField(max_length=11)
@@ -199,8 +199,10 @@ class EmployeeWageRecord(EFW2Record):
     blank6 =                        BlankField(max_length=23)
 
     def validate_ssn(self, f):
-        if str(f.value).startswith('666','9'):
-            raise ValidationError("ssn cannot start with 666 or 9", field=f)
+        if str(f.value).startswith('666'):
+            raise ValidationError("ssn cannot start with 666", field=f)
+        if str(f.value).startswith('9'):
+            raise ValidationError("ssn cannot start with 9", field=f)
 
 
 
@@ -243,7 +245,7 @@ class StateWageRecord(EFW2Record):
     taxing_entity_code =            TextField(max_length=5, required=False)
     ssn =                           IntegerField(max_length=9, required=False)
     employee_first_name =           TextField(max_length=15)
-    employee_middle_name =          TextField(max_length=15)
+    employee_middle_name =          TextField(max_length=15, required=False)
     employee_last_name =            TextField(max_length=20)
     employee_suffix =               TextField(max_length=4, required=False)
     location_address =              TextField(max_length=22)
@@ -257,20 +259,20 @@ class StateWageRecord(EFW2Record):
     foreign_postal_code =           TextField(max_length=15, required=False)
     country_code =                  TextField(max_length=2, required=False)
     optional_code =                 TextField(max_length=2, required=False)
-    reporting_period =              MonthYearField()
+    reporting_period =              MonthYearField(required=False)
     quarterly_unemp_ins_wages =             MoneyField(max_length=11)
     quarterly_unemp_ins_taxable_wages =     MoneyField(max_length=11)
-    number_of_weeks_worked =        IntegerField(max_length=2)
+    number_of_weeks_worked =        IntegerField(max_length=2, required=False)
     date_first_employed =           DateField(required=False)
     date_of_separation =            DateField(required=False)
     blank2 =                        BlankField(max_length=5)
-    state_employer_account_num =    TextField(max_length=20)
+    state_employer_account_num =    IntegerField(max_length=20, required=False)
     blank3 =                        BlankField(max_length=6)
     state_code_2 =                  StateField(use_numeric=True)
     state_taxable_wages =           MoneyField(max_length=11)
     state_income_tax_wh =           MoneyField(max_length=11)
     other_state_data =              TextField(max_length=10, required=False)
-    tax_type_code =                 TextField(max_length=1) # VALIDATE C, D, E, or F
+    tax_type_code =                 TextField(max_length=1, required=False) # VALIDATE C, D, E, or F
     local_taxable_wages =           MoneyField(max_length=11)
     local_income_tax_wh =           MoneyField(max_length=11)
     state_control_number =          IntegerField(max_length=7, required=False)
@@ -280,7 +282,8 @@ class StateWageRecord(EFW2Record):
 
     def validate_tax_type_code(self, field):
         choices = [x for x,y in enums.tax_type_codes]
-        if field.value.upper() not in choices:
+        value = field.value
+        if value and value.upper() not in choices:
             raise ValidationError("%s not one of %s" % (field.value,choices), field=f)
 
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82813ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+PyMuPDF==1.24.0
diff --git a/scripts/pyaccuwage-convert b/scripts/pyaccuwage-convert
index 9591760..9239cac 100755
--- a/scripts/pyaccuwage-convert
+++ b/scripts/pyaccuwage-convert
@@ -73,3 +73,4 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     records = list(read_file(in_file, in_file.name, get_record_types()))
     write_file(out_file, out_file.name, records)
+    print("wrote {} records to {}".format(len(records), out_file.name))
diff --git a/scripts/pyaccuwage-pdfparse b/scripts/pyaccuwage-pdfparse
index 6a35387..d80abaa 100755
--- a/scripts/pyaccuwage-pdfparse
+++ b/scripts/pyaccuwage-pdfparse
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
+#!/usr/bin/env python
 from pyaccuwage.parser import RecordBuilder
 from pyaccuwage.pdfextract import PDFRecordFinder
 import argparse
@@ -29,48 +29,9 @@ doc = PDFRecordFinder(source_file)
 records = doc.records()
 builder = RecordBuilder()
 
-def record_begins_at(field):
-    return int(fields[0].data.values()[0].split('-')[0], 10)
-
-def record_ends_at(fields):
-    return int(fields[-1].data.values()[0].split('-')[-1], 10)
-
-last_record_begins_at = -1
-last_record_ends_at = -1
-
-for rec in records:
-    #if not rec[1]:
-    #    continue # no actual fields detected
-    fields = rec[1]
-
-    # strip out fields that are not 4 items long
-    fields = filter(lambda x:len(x.tuple) == 4, fields)
-
-    # strip fields that don't begin at position 0
-    fields = filter(lambda x: 0 in x.data, fields)
-
-    # strip fields that don't have a length-range type item in position 0
-    fields = filter(lambda x: re.match('^\d+[-]?\d*$', x.data[0]), fields)
-
-    if not fields:
-        continue
-
-    begins_at = record_begins_at(fields)
-    ends_at = record_ends_at(fields)
-
-    # FIXME record_ends_at is randomly exploding due to record data being
-    # a lump of text and not necessarily a field entry. I assume
-    # this is cleaned out by the record builder class.
-
-    #print last_record_ends_at + 1, begins_at
-    if last_record_ends_at + 1 != begins_at:
-        name = re.sub('^[^a-zA-Z]*','',rec[0].split(':')[-1])
-        name = re.sub('[^\w]*', '', name)
-        sys.stdout.write("\nclass %s(pyaccuwagemodel.Model):\n" % name)
-
-    for field in builder.load(map(lambda x:x.tuple, rec[1][0:])):
+for (name, fields) in records:
+    name = re.sub(r'^[^a-zA-Z]*','', name.split(':')[-1])
+    name = re.sub(r'[^\w]*', '', name)
+    sys.stdout.write("\nclass %s(pyaccuwagemodel.Model):\n" % name)
+    for field in builder.load(map(lambda x: x, fields[0:])):
         sys.stdout.write('\t' + field + '\n')
-        #print field
-
-    last_record_ends_at = ends_at
-
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b543ddb..cdef46b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ def pyaccuwage_tests():
     return test_suite
 
 setup(name='pyaccuwage',
-    version='0.2018.1',
+    version='0.2025.0',
     packages=['pyaccuwage'],
     scripts=[
+		'scripts/pyaccuwage-checkseq',
+		'scripts/pyaccuwage-convert',
+		'scripts/pyaccuwage-genfieldfill',
 		'scripts/pyaccuwage-parse',
 		'scripts/pyaccuwage-pdfparse',
-		'scripts/pyaccuwage-checkseq',
-		'scripts/pyaccuwage-genfieldfill'
 		],
     zip_safe=True,
     test_suite='setup.pyaccuwage_tests',
diff --git a/tests/test_fields.py b/tests/test_fields.py
index 3d8fd3e..2707e6f 100644
--- a/tests/test_fields.py
+++ b/tests/test_fields.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import unittest
 from pyaccuwage.fields import TextField
+from pyaccuwage.fields import StaticField
 # from pyaccuwage.fields import IntegerField
 # from pyaccuwage.fields import StateField
 # from pyaccuwage.fields import BlankField
@@ -31,3 +32,36 @@ class TestTextField(unittest.TestCase):
         data = field.get_data()
         self.assertEqual(len(data), field.max_length)
         self.assertEqual(data, b'HELLO,')
+
+    def testStringUnsetOptional(self):
+        field = TextField(max_length=6, required=False)
+        field.validate()
+        self.assertEqual(field.get_data(), b' ' * 6)
+
+    def testStringRequiredUnassigned(self):
+        field = TextField(max_length=6)
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationError, lambda: field.validate())
+
+    def testStringRequiredNonBlank(self):
+        field = TextField(max_length=6)
+        field.value = ''
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationError, lambda: field.validate())
+
+    def testStringRequiredBlank(self):
+        field = TextField(max_length=6, blank=True)
+        field.value = ''
+        field.validate()
+        self.assertEqual(len(field.get_data()), 6)
+
+    def testStringMinimumLength(self):
+        field = TextField(max_length=6, min_length=6, blank=True) # blank has no effect
+        field.value = '' # one character too short
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationError, lambda: field.validate())
+        field.value = '12345' # one character too short
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationError, lambda: field.validate())
+        field.value = '123456' # one character too short
+
+class TestStaticField(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_static_field(self):
+        field = StaticField(value='TEST')
+        self.assertEqual(field.get_data(), b'TEST')
diff --git a/tests/test_records.py b/tests/test_records.py
index a6485ac..67ce3ce 100644
--- a/tests/test_records.py
+++ b/tests/test_records.py
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ from pyaccuwage.fields import MoneyField
 from pyaccuwage.fields import StateField
 from pyaccuwage.fields import TextField
 from pyaccuwage.fields import ZeroField
+from pyaccuwage.fields import StaticField
+from pyaccuwage.fields import ValidationError
 from pyaccuwage.model import Model
 
 class TestModelOutput(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -20,7 +22,8 @@ class TestModelOutput(unittest.TestCase):
         money = MoneyField(max_length=32)
         state_txt = StateField()
         state_num = StateField(use_numeric=True)
-        blank2 = BlankField(max_length=24)
+        blank2 = BlankField(max_length=12)
+        static1 = StaticField(value='hey mister!!')
 
     def setUp(self):
         self.model = TestModelOutput.TestModel()
@@ -42,7 +45,8 @@ class TestModelOutput(unittest.TestCase):
             b'313377'.zfill(32),
             b'IA',
             b'19',
-            b' ' * 24,
+            b' ' * 12,
+            b'hey mister!!',
             ])
 
         output = model.output()
@@ -64,6 +68,7 @@ field2: 12345
 money: 3133.77
 state_txt: IA
 state_num: IA
+static1: hey mister!!
 
 ''')
 
@@ -86,7 +91,8 @@ class TestFileFormats(unittest.TestCase):
         record_identifier = 'B'  # 1 byte
         zero1 = ZeroField(max_length=32)
         text1 = TextField(max_length=71)
-        blank2 = BlankField(max_length=24)
+        text2 = TextField(max_length=20, required=False)
+        blank2 = BlankField(max_length=4)
 
     record_types = [TestModelA, TestModelB]
 
@@ -125,3 +131,49 @@ class TestFileFormats(unittest.TestCase):
         original_bytes = pyaccuwage.dumps(records)
         reloaded_bytes = pyaccuwage.dumps(records_loaded)
         self.assertEqual(original_bytes, reloaded_bytes)
+
+
+class TestRequiredFields(unittest.TestCase):
+    def createTestRecord(self, required=False, blank=False):
+        class Record(pyaccuwage.model.Model):
+            record_length = 16
+            record_identifier = ''
+            test_field = TextField(max_length=16, required=required, blank=blank)
+        record = Record()
+        def dump():
+            return pyaccuwage.dumps([record])
+        return (record, dump)
+
+    def testRequiredBlankField(self):
+        (record, dump) = self.createTestRecord(required=True, blank=True)
+        record.test_field.value   # if nothing is ever assigned, raise error
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationError, dump)
+        record.test_field.value = ''  # value may be empty string
+        dump()
+
+    def testRequiredNonblankField(self):
+        (record, dump) = self.createTestRecord(required=True, blank=False)
+        record.test_field.value   # if nothing is ever assigned, raise error
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationError, dump)
+        record.test_field.value = ''  # value must not be empty string
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationError, dump)
+        record.test_field.value = 'hello'
+        dump()
+
+    def testOptionalBlankField(self):
+        (record, dump) = self.createTestRecord(required=False, blank=True)
+        record.test_field.value  # OK if nothing is ever assigned
+        dump()
+        record.test_field.value = ''  # OK if empty string is assigned
+        dump()
+        record.test_field.value = 'hello'
+        dump()
+
+    def testOptionalNonBlankField(self):
+        (record, dump) = self.createTestRecord(required=False, blank=False)
+        record.test_field.value  # OK if nothing is ever assigned
+        dump()
+        record.test_field.value = ''  # OK if empty string is assigned
+        dump()
+        record.test_field.value = 'hello'
+        dump()