code: public List<MapRow> readTableConditional(Class<? extends TableReader> readerClass) throws IOException
     {
        List<MapRow> result;
        if (DatatypeConverter.getBoolean(m_stream))
        {
           result = readTable(readerClass);
        }
        else
        {
           result = Collections.emptyList();
        }
        return result;
     }
docs: Conditionally read a nested table based in the value of a boolean flag which precedes the table data.
  
  @param readerClass reader class
  @return table rows or empty list if table not present