The assembly macro contains four tools: questions, optional text, text variables, and clean file.
In addition, the macro can generate a checklist of the questions, variables and client information required to complete the document. Use can use this checklist when conducting client interviews.
Text variables are client-specific information, such as names, dates and amounts. The assembly macro follows standard convention and marks such variables as capitalized text surrounded by square brackets.
The assembly macro examines the document and finds all text variables. It displays the variables on a form and provides a text box for each variable where the client or deal-specific text can be inserted. Click Insert Variables to replace the variables in your document with the values entered into the form. Variables left blank will not be replaced.
Optional Text
Optional text is non-capitalized text surrounded by square brackets. It is used to mark text that may be included, excluded or adjusted to meet client needs. The macro will cycle through all optional text sections in the document, highlighting the text, and ask how the text should be treated.
The assembly macro handles three forms of optional text: (a) standard options containing just the optional text; (b) optional text with guidance; and (c) multiple choice options.
In the case of standard options and optional text with guidance, the relevant text is highlighted in the document and displayed on the form. Using the radio buttons, you can either: (a) keep the text (and remove the surrounding brackets), (b) remove the text from the document, or (c) replace the language with text entered into the lower text box. Click Apply Option to make the change in the document and/or click Next to move to the next section of optional text.
In some cases, optional text may contain multiple choice options. For example in the screen capture below, an Assignment clause can be configured to preclude assignment by either party, or upon request, or by one party and not the other. These options will be displayed in the radio buttons. Choose the appropriate option. Click Apply Option to make the change in the document and/or click Next to move to the next section of optional text.
When the macro reaches the end of the document, the optional text panel will be hidden. You can return to processing the optional text by clicking the Optional Text button.
Questions and Answers
If the document contains questions, the Questions button is activated; otherwise it is disabled. Questions are used to configure parts of document based on user feedback. For example, specific parts of a confidentiality agreement will be drafted differently for a one-way and two-way commitment. A single question can be applied to configure all relevant sections.
NOTE: It may be better to store the questions in a separate document, because placing the question tags at the top of the document may be confusing to end-users. The tags may also be vulnerable to accidental editing or removal. I welcome your thoughts and opinions.
The assembly macro contains a simple question and answer approach to selecting clauses and text. If questions are embedded into the form using the tag codes described below, the questions will be displayed on a form. Check the boxes to indicate an affirmative answer; leave the box unchecked to indicate a negative answer. Click Process Questions to insert the answers into the form.
The Checklist button creates a new document with all the text variables, questions, and optional text listed. The document can be used during client interviews to ensure that all relevant information is gathered.
Coding a Document for Assembly
Questions and Answers
Codes for questions are composed of two parts: the question and the answer. The question is setup with the following code format:
<?Q#: text of question />
Where the # sign designates the question number and is used to match the questions to the answers. A colon is used to separate the question number from the question text. Typically all questions are placed at the start of the document, but they can be inserted anywhere in the text.
The answer is coded using a start and end code similar to an HTML tag:
<Q#> answer text
</Q#> Where the # sign corresponds to the question number.
When the macro is run, the program retains the answer text of checked questions, and removes the surrounding question tags. For questions that are not checked, both the tags and the text are removed.
Optional Text
Optional text is text surrounded by square brackets where the text is not in all capitals. The macro cycles through each optional text section, displays the text and asks if you want to:
- Remove the optional text
- Keep the text (and remove the surrounding square brackets)
- Replace the text with alternative text
In addition, two variant forms of optional text are available.
First, you can provide a guiding prompt by typing the prompt in curly braces ({…}) following the opening square bracket. For example:
[{What is the effective date of the agreement?}Date] Will display the prompt text in the optional text box and the Date in the replace text box.
Second, you can create multiple choice options, by typing prompts for each of the choices in triangle brackets (<…>) following the opening square bracket, separating each choice with a pipe character (|). The choices will be displayed as radio buttons and the prompt text used for the caption. The corresponding text options should be defined within the closing square bracket, with each text option separated with a pipe character. For example:
[<option 1|option 2|option 3>Text for option 1| Text for option 2| Text for option 2] You can create a maximum of six (6) options for each multiple choice option.
Text Variables
Text variables are blocks of text that will be replaced with the user supplied values. They are coded by typing a variable name, such as [COMPANY_NAME] in all caps and surrounding the text with square brackets. The macro will first find all the unique text variables and create a form containing the unique variables and provide a text box for the replacement value.
