HTML is the primary document type submitted to the SEC now. Every filing needs to have a primary document, and that primary document is almost always an HTML file. Because EDGAR HTML is a very specific type of HTML, you need special tools to create and convert these documents. Software packages like GoFiler exist to make this process as easy as possible, but in the end it still involves some level of user interaction to convert the document from a source file, make sure it converted alright, fix any issues, proof it, and either submit it or send it back to the client. Well, using Legato, we can cut a few steps out of that by making an HTML template that’s filled in with data populated from a data file!

New rules go into effect next month requiring that filers insert hyperlinks into their exhibit indices to link directly to referenced filings and exhibits. For a small filing, maybe this isn’t too arduous a task to do by hand. But for a large one? The process can be a real pain, particularly if you don’t know the links of the exact exhibits that need to be included. GoFiler has now included a tool (written entirely in Legato by our development staff!) to help users locate and automatically include exhibits. It’s pretty powerful, allowing the user to build a local cache of filings from the EDGAR system based on a particular CIK. This cache can be searched and sorted, so it becomes much easier to find the filing you need to link.

When you start adding multiple Legato scripts to the same menu in GoFiler, the menu can become quite crowded. Repeating the same logo, the default “LS” for a Legato script, doesn’t help at all. To combat this problem, GoFiler 4.19a introduced a new way of defining custom logos for Legato scripts. Using this feature can make individual scripts stand out and help the user identify them more easily. Custom icons can also add a professional veneer and polish to your script, which is always nice to do particularly if the script is being deployed to multiple users on a permanent basis.

This week we’re revisiting the Align Outline Text script from LDC #41, to show how an existing script can be expanded upon to add new functionality. The original version of this script made a set of assumptions, which means it works really well for our sample test file, but there are many other cases where these assumptions are false, and the script doesn’t do anything to fix our problem. The original purpose was to examine paragraphs, try to identify the lead-in text (the “(a)”, or “1.”, or “Section 1.”, etc), and wrap it with a <FONT> tag with properties to cause it to render with a fixed width instead of relying on non-breaking spaces to make it appear spaced. Instead of looking for a very specific type of spacer, like the last script did, we can use the Word Parser in Legato to step through the lead-in word by word, examining each one, to determine how many characters appear before the first set of non-breaking spaces. This is a lot more flexible, and lets our script react better to unforseen types styles of paragraphs.