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LMS-1724 Add multiple quoted structures within a single provision

Feature Improvement Summary

Add multiple quoted structures within a single provision. May also require some modelling work.

Original Description

Been advised that I should insert a semi-colon after each adjacent inserted row (not just at the end of the last inserted row). I have tried to update the quoted structure properties for each adjacent quoted structure to insert a semi-colon at the end of each row, but although I keep asking for a semi-colon at the end, Lawmaker is only inserting a semi-colon at the end of the last row. Is it possible to put a semi-colon at the end of each adjacent quoted structure that inserts a table row, or does the functionality not support this? A 2019 Act of Parliament that made the same kind of amendment only had semi-colons after the last inserted row in adjacent quoted structures, which makes me wonder whether this is a functionality limitation.

Background

This issue was also reported by TSO in https://tsoltd.atlassian.net/browse/LEGDEV-6961 . They noted that in a UKPGA, the following text has been inserted manually within the table cell rather than being within the <inline name="AppendText"/> in two consecutive quoted structures.

This is because, at the moment, there is no easy/intuitive way to insert multiple consecutive quoted structures in Lawmaker. You can only do it by copying a previous QS and pasting it again, but it is likely that users do not know that.

So, in this case, the user must have used the ‘Insert Adjacent quoted structures’ functionality in their aim of adding multiple QS. However, this feature was only ever designed for the case where a user needs to insert a single ‘complex’ quoted structure, where the first provision is lower in the hierarchy than subsequent provisions (e.g. a paragraph followed by a subsection). In fact, in Lawmaker, a single quoted structure must start with the highest level provision in that structure. So, to achieve that sort of structure, the system needs to create two quoted structures back-to-back. However, effectively, the quoted structure is only one and for this reason it is only possible to insert one following text at the end.

For this reason, we should allow users to easily insert multiple quoted structure each with their own following text.


Status

Feature logged

Lawmaker components affected

Editor, XML

Raised by organisation(s)

HMRC, TNA

Planned version to be included in (if any)

 

Related development ticket(s)