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 were to change e.g. through renumbering, promotion, demotion or deletion, the system will detect these changes and either update reference to the changes or flag that the reference has become invalid.
How to “tag” existing cross-references
You can trigger the Tag x-refs feature in a number of ways:
Click on the Tag x-ref icon in the toolbar,
Select Tools menu>Tag x-refs,
Right-click in the Editor or Structure view and select Tag x-refs, or
Use the keyboard short cut Alt+t.
Lawmaker will analyse the provision your cursor is in (or, if you have selected some specific text or provisions, that selection) and add XML tags to any internal reference it identifies that hasn’t already been marked up. An “internal reference” is a reference that looks like it refers to another provision in the same Bill or SI.
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.
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 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.)
To create a cross-reference using the Structure View:
Right-click on the provision in the Structure view you want to refer to.
From the context menu that appears, select the reference you want to copy from the Select x-ref to copy sub-menu. The menu will show all the different options for referring to the provision so you can select whether or not you want the provision name (e.g. “section”) to be included and whether any ancestor provisions should be included in the reference.
This will place the selected cross-reference in the clipboard.
Place your cursor in the Editor where you would like the cross reference to be inserted.
Press Ctrl+v to paste in the reference.
You can’t currently create references to EU provisions.
In SI/SSIs, Lawmaker will determine whether a provision should be referred to as a “sub-paragraph” or “paragraph” depending on the provision’s context.
How to ‘ignore’ automatically tagged cross references
If something has been erroneously marked up as an internal reference (e.g. it’s actually an external reference or not a cross-reference at all), you can tell Lawmaker to ignore it in future. This will stop it trying to update the reference when you use the Update x-ref feature. Marking it to be ignored rather than removing the reference all together can be more useful because it will stop it being retagged.
To ignore a reference, right-click within the reference and select Ignore x-ref.
(You can also ignFrom the upper toolbar and select ‘ignore x-ref’
Lawmaker will update the status of the cross reference and present it according to the table below
How to remove (unwrap) tagged cross references
If you want to force Lawmaker to re-tag a particular cross-reference (rather than updating it), you need to remove the existing tag. To do this:
Place your cursor in the marked-up cross-reference.
Right-click and select Remove x-ref tag.
(You can also do this from the upper toolbar, select Tools menu>Remove x-ref tag.)
Only the cross-reference mark up will be removed - the text will be left alone.
Updating existing cross-references
You can update cross-references that have previously been marked up in a number of ways:
Click on the Update x-ref icon in the toolbar,
Select Tools menu>Update x-refs from the toolbar,
Right-click in Structure view or Editor view and select Update x-refs, or
Use the keyboard short cut Alt+u.
If nothing has been selected before you trigger the update then you’ll be given the option of updating references in the current provision (i.e. the current section, article, regulation etc.) or the whole document. Otherwise, Lawmaker will update all references in your selection.
Please note: if you add a J-ref after creating a cross reference to that provision, you will need to run 'update x-refs' for the J-ref to be visible in the cross reference
Hints and tips
You can paste over an existing cross reference. Pasting will strip out the old cross reference mark up before inserting the new cross reference and its mark up
With exception to EU elements which haven’t been configured to work in cross referencing yet.
You can use the manual paste method to insert cross references to provision in other documents in the system. If you use ‘Update x-ref’ they will change from ‘Valid’ (orange text) to ‘Invalid’ (grey highlighted text) as the target provision doesn’t exist in the document you are updating. However, the link to the target provision will be preserved so if you were to paste your provision containing the cross reference back into the source document (e.g. by applying an amendment) and run ‘update x-ref’ again, the cross reference will change from ‘Invalid’ (grey highlighted text) to ‘Valid’ (orange text) as the target provision now exists in the same document as the cross reference. This will be useful when drafting a large bill in separate documents, but also when applying amendments to a bill.
If you want to change a J-ref and you are currently viewing J-refs in cross references, re-run ‘Update x-ref’ to see the J-ref updated.