Last week, we explored editing SGML properties with Legato. By using some of the Legato SDK functions, we can read the properties of an SGML tag and change those properties to new values. This is pretty simple and straightforward. However, what if we want to do something based on a particular setting? For example, what if we want to employ an “Indent Body of Paragraph” function, where the first line of the paragraph doesn’t move but the subsequent lines are indented? We can’t simply read the indent value and add to it because we cannot guarantee that the same unit of measurement is being used. We need to read the unit, normalize it into a standard unit, add to it, convert it back to the original measurement style, and write it back out. It’s a bit more involved than simply setting properties, but it lets us perform some pretty interesting operations.

In past blog posts, we’ve used Legato to remove HTML tags or to add new ones. One function we haven’t really explored is looking at a tag and changing its properties. Editing CSS properties with Legato is extremely powerful because it lets us change the document’s appearance in clean, interesting, and intelligent ways. This week’s script is a very basic but very powerful example of this concept.

Last week, we covered a script that could take a single folder, search it, and encrypt (or redact) CCCs in project files and XML files. After thinking more about the problem, we realized that the script (while a good start) didn’t go far enough to solve the situation. First, the script only worked with EDGARLink Online XML and GFP files. Any file where the CCC appeared on a different line of the code than the tag declaring it a CCC would not have been obscured. Also, backup files created by GoFiler would not have been obscured. There are several ease of use items that should be addressed as well. The changes made to this newer version are enumerated below:

With the recent news about the SEC data breach, people are looking towards their own internal security practices to ensure they are handling their data responsibly and doing everything possible to prevent their own data breaches. In the financial document preparation and submission industry, one of the most common pieces of private data that is passed back and forth through email is a filer’s CCC. To file a document on behalf of a company, you only need their CIK (which is publicly available) and the CCC (which is not supposed to be publicly available). It follows then that if an unauthorized entity obtains a CCC, they could fraudulently file on a company’s behalf to the SEC. So it’s in your best interest to keep your CCC secret!

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!