The Editor uses the Content Completion Assistant (CCA) to help you insert provisions and other elements into your document. It ensures that what you insert is valid in terms of document structure and the underlying XML.
The CCA offers a list of provisions and other elements that are valid at your cursor’s location and will insert your selected provision in the next correct place in the document.
How to insert a provision using the Content Completion Assistant (CCA)
To insert a provision:
Press Enter to activate the CCA.
Select the provision you wish to insert. You can use the up and down arrow keys or your mouse or you can start typing the name of the provision you want.
Press Enter again.
The selected provision/element will be inserted in the next correct place, e.g. if your cursor is within a paragraph of a Regulation and you select “Regulation” from the CCA then a new Regulation will be inserted after the current Regulation.
When you insert a provision, default child elements within the provision like the number and heading are also inserted.
Your cursor will move into the provision that is inserted.
(You can also bring up the CCA by using the Insert element… option in the right-click context menu or in the toolbar, Insert menu>Insert element….)
How to insert next default provision
You can quickly insert the next default provision for the context your cursor is in by pressing Ctrl+Enter.
The provision that will be inserted in the provision that would appear at the top of the CCA had you pressed Enter. This will generally be the same provision as the one your cursor is in with the exception of when your cursor is a heading, opening words or closing words.
When your cursor is in | This provision will be inserted |
|---|---|
Heading of grouping element (e.g. Part, Chapter, cross-heading) | Section if in a Bill; regulation/article etc. if in an SI/SSI |
heading of a section in a Bill | Subsection |
Schedule heading | Cross-heading |
all other provisions (e.g. subsection, paragraph etc.) | the same provision |
How to insert an additional text paragraph within a provision
You can insert an additional paragraph of text within a provision by using the keyboard shortcut Shift+Enter.
Note on the ordering and contents of the CCA
The CCA will show all the valid sibling elements and valid child elements that you can insert.
A sibling element is an element that will be inserted after the current element your cursor is in. For example, if your cursor is in a subsection then a sibling would be another subsection. Or if your cursor was in the opening words of a paragraph then a sibling would be a sub-paragraph.
A child element is an element that will be inserted within the current element your cursor is in. For example, if your cursor is in a subsection then a child would be a paragraph, definition or step.
The CCA shows options in the following order:
First, the valid siblings of the immediate provision your cursor is in.
Then the valid children of the provision your cursor is in.
Last, the valid siblings of each ancestor above the provision your cursor is in.
So, for example, if your cursor is in a subsection within a Bill, the CCA might look like:
In this case:
The valid sibling of the provision your cursor is in is Subsection (1).
The valid children are: Paragraph (a), Definition, Step, Heading, Unnumbered Paragraph.
The valid siblings of ancestors of the provision are: Section, Cross heading, Part.
Numbering of inserted provisions
See Numbering for more on how provisions are numbered when they are inserted.
Inserting elements in the preface
If you need to insert an element in the preface (e.g. to insert a ‘note’ at the top of a Bill e.g. for Money bill rubrics), the simplest way is as follows:
Open the Preferences by selecting Document>Preferences… in the upper toolbar menu.
Turn on block tags mode by selecting Block tags in the Tags display mode dropdown menu. This will present XML tags in the Editor.
Place your cursor within the Preface tags but not within any child elements inside the preface.
Press Enter and select the element you want to insert (e.g. Note).
Return the display mode to normal by selecting No Tags in the Preferences… dialogue box.
Automatic conversions and insertions
In some cases, when you insert a particular element, Lawmaker will automatically convert an existing element or insert an extra element to ensure the document remains correctly structured and formatted.
In particular:
When you insert a subsection into a section in a Bill (that isn’t currently divided), the existing content of the section will be converted into the first subsection of the section.
When you insert a paragraph into a Regulation or Article etc. into an SI/SSI (that isn’t currently divided), the existing content of the regulation etc. will be converted into the first paragraph.
When you insert a schedule subparagraph into a schedule paragraph (that isn’t currently divided), the existing content of the schedule paragraph will be converted into the first schedule subparagraph.
When you insert a second schedule into a UK Bill or an SI/SSI, a ‘SCHEDULES’ heading will be inserted before the first schedule.
Hints and tips
If you insert a section into a Bill, it will contain a subsection by default. Equally, if you insert a regulation or article into an SI it will contain a paragraph by default. If you want an undivided provision, you can use the promote function to remove the subsection/paragraph - see Promoting and demoting provisions.
To insert a provision before the first provision in the series, it is sometimes useful to ‘view block tags’ (from Document > Preferences… in the toolbar menu) and place the cursor before the starting tag of the first provision in the series. From here you can use the CCA to insert the provision at the beginning of the series
The combined numbering format used by SI/SSIs will happen automatically when you insert your child provision into the parent e.g. inserting a sub-paragraph (i) into the first paragraph (a) – will become: (a) (i) sub-paragraph text here.
It is possible to insert a bullet list into your documents (bills & SIs). If you right-click on the bullet point and select "Update List Style" you can change the bullet point to an em-dash list or no bullet point.
Screencasts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWBAOaGSXUE