Cross references can be created via the Structure View in Lawmaker or using the Tag x-refs feature. In both cases, Lawmaker will create a reference to the target provision so that if it changes, e.g. through renumbering, promotion, demotion or deletion, the system can detect the change and either update the reference to show the change or flag that the reference has become invalid.
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Tag x-ref relies on sophisticated pattern recognition but there may be some references that it doesn’t recognise. It may also tag something as a reference when it isn’t. We’re constantly refining this feature so please provide feedback to Lawmaker Support if you come across any issues. External cross-references (i.e. references to other enactments) are ignored by Tag x-refs when recognised as such. Tag-x-ref will skip over quoted structures because there is not enough context in a quoted structure to reliably identify the target of any cross-references within it. It also skips the introducing text before the quoted structure on the assumption that any references there will be external references. |
How to create a cross-reference using the Structure
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View
The other way to create cross-references is to use the Structure View. (This is the only way to create cross-references within a quoted structure.)
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The reference will show up as valid when you first paste it in. However, when you update the cross-references in text, any reference to another document will show up as Invalid (grey highlighted text) and the reference won’t be updated. If at a future point the target provision is copied into the same document (or, in the case of an amendment, it is applied to the Bill), then the reference should return to being valid when you update the cross-references again.
Cross-reference statuses and how they are displayed
A cross-reference can have one of four statuses. The styling of the reference in the Editor changes to indicate its status. Invalid references are also highlighted in the Document Checks panel.
Status | Styling | Notes |
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Valid | Orange text | The system has identified the text to be a cross reference and has created a mapping to the corresponding target provision |
Invalid | Grey highlighted text | The system has identified the text to be a cross reference but has been unable to find the corresponding target provision in the document. Users can choose to ignore the invalid cross reference if they knew the target provision hadn’t been written yet. Or, if the target provision did not exist in the current document (an external x-ref) and the system failed to identify it as such, the user can update the cross reference’s status to ‘ignore’ which means the system will no longer attempt to update the cross reference following an ‘update x-ref’ operation. (in future, pattern matching will be continually refined to minimise this occurrence) |
Can’t resolve | Black text with orange highlight | The system has located the target provision but has identified that it has either been promoted or demoted and highlights it to the user. Users will have to redo the cross reference for it to become ‘valid’ again (in future the system will attempt to update the cross reference to reflect the promotion/demotion change) |
Ignore | Purple text with dotted grey underline | The user has manually updated the cross-reference’s status to ‘ignore’ so that the system no longer attempts to update the x-ref following an ‘update x-ref’ operation. |