Create a Legislation Page

Introduction to Legislation pages

Legislation List pages are dynamic pages, which means they operate differently than the majority of Tridion pages. Instead of inserting every piece of legislation into a page and then publishing it, you build and publish the page once, and then create and publish legislation components separately. Legislation components are associated with the page through Legislation List keywords. Below is a flowchart depicting the process:

To begin, we recommend creating the Legislation List component first. In that component, you'll create and select a specific Legislation List keyword. 

Next, you'll create a Legislation List page, and insert the Legislation List component into the page. This associates the Legislation List page with the keyword you selected in the Legislation List component. 

Then, you'll create the Legislation components that you want to appear on the page. You will need to create each individually using separate Legislation components. In each Legislation component, under the metadata tab, you'll select the same Legislation List keyword that you selected in the Legislation List component. This is how the Legislation component is linked to the page, and how the system knows which page to display the legislation on, once they are published.

When ready, publish the page and article components you've created. 

The setup described on this page shows how to associate articles with one specific page, but you can select multiple Legislation List keywords within the Legislation component. By doing so, you can reuse the same Legislation component on multiple pages, as long as each Legislation List keyword has its own Legislation List page that has been created and published.

Create a headline and introduction for the page

The first thing to build for a Legislation List page is a General Content component with the headline and introductory text, highlighted in red below. Below are the steps for creating this component:

1. In the 020 section, navigate to the folder where you want the components for the Legislation page to reside.
2. Create a new component and complete the following fields:
   1. Name: enter a name for the component here
   2. Schema: select General Content
   3. Title: enter the headline for your Legislation page here. 
   4. Content: enter the introductory text that will go at the top of your page. This is a rich-text field, so you can add other elements like images, links, etc.
3. Save and Close the component.

Create the Legislation List component

Below are the fields that make up a Legislation List component, and tips for completing them:

1. Name: enter a name for your file
2. Schema: select Legislation List
   
3. Legislation List: select the Legislation List keyword. You can only select one keyword, because this is the keyword that you will use to associate individual articles with the page that this Legislation List component is inserted into.
   
   If your Legislation List keyword has already been created, then you can select it from the drop-down menu. If you need to create a new Legislation List keyword, click the green plus icon . This will open a pop-up window where you can create a new keyword. After saving and closing the new keyword, it will appear in the drop-down list for this field and you will be able to select it. 
4. Functions: check the box for Page Navigation if you want it to display on your Legislation List page. (We recommend checking this box.)
5. Items per page: select the number of legislation to appear on the page. The options are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, and 100.
6. Document fields to display in output: Check the boxes for the fields that should display on your page:
   1. Description: this will display a short description of the legislation.
   2. Chapter: this will display the number for the bill.
   3. House File: this will display the number assigned to this bill in the MN House.
   4. Senate File: this will display the number assigned to this bill in the MN Senate.
   5. Date Presented: this will display the date that this bill was presented.
   6. Date Signed: this will display the date that the bill was signed, if applicable. It will also link to a copy of the signed bill, if a link is provided.
   7. Date Vetoed: this will display the date that the bill was vetoed, if applicable. It will also link to a copy of the vetoed bill, if a link is provided.
   8. Date Filed: this will display the date that this bill was filed.

Create the Legislation page

1. In the 050 section, navigate to (or create) the structure group where the Legislation page will reside.
2. Create a new page.
3. Fill in the Name, File Name, Page Display Name, Dublin Core Title, and Dublin Core Description fields.
4. For the Page Template field, uncheck "Inherit from Parent." Then, in the drop-down menu for the field, select Legislation Page.
5. Click the Design tab.
6. Click the Add button:
   1. Navigate to the General Content component you created in step 1, select it, apply the Page Introduction component template, and insert it into the page.
   2. Navigate to the Legislation List component you created in step 2, select it and apply the Legislation List - Datagrid component template, and insert it into the page.
7. Close the Insert Component Presentation pop-up window.
8. Save and Close your Legislation page.

Publish the Legislation Page

When you've completed all the steps above, then all you need to do next is publish your Legislation page.

Navigate to the Legislation page you built in step 3, right-click on it and select Publishing > Publish.

Select the site you wish to publish to and click Publish. This will send the page to the publishing queue. 

We also recommend republishing the navigation at this point, so that it picks up the new page.

Create a folder for Legislation components

1. In the 020 section, navigate to the folder where your Legislation List component (created in step 2) resides.
2. In that folder, create a new sub-folder with the following settings:
   1. Name: we recommend something like "Legislation"
   2. Linked Schema: Legislation
3. Save and Close the new folder.

Create Legislation components

In the folder that you created in step 5, now you will create Legislation components to populate your Legislation page. Create one or more Legislation components using the following instructions:

1. Name: enter a name for your component. For legislation, we recommend naming your content in the following format: YYYY-MM-DD Title of Legislation. This will make it easier for you to locate, edit, and publish content by the date it was created. 
2. Schema: select Legislation
3. Description: enter a very brief description of the legislation here. 
4. Chapter: enter the chapter number here.
5. House File: enter the House file number here.
6. Senate File: enter the Senate file number here.
7. Date Presented: enter a date in this field by clicking the little calendar icon to the right of the field. A pop-up will appear, which allows you to navigate through a calendar and select a date (forward and back dating articles is allowed). The Time field is in 24 hour time, so for a time like 2:00 pm, you will need to enter 14:00:00.
8. Date Signed: enter a date in this field by clicking the little calendar icon to the right of the field. A pop-up will appear, which allows you to navigate through a calendar and select a date (forward and back dating articles is allowed). The Time field is in 24 hour time, so for a time like 2:00 pm, you will need to enter 14:00:00.
9. Link to Signed Version, INTERNAL: if you want to link to a page within your website, click the browse folder icon , navigate to a component used in the published page that you want to link to, and select it.
10. Link to Signed Version, EXTERNAL: if you want to link to a page on another website, enter the URL for the page here.
11. Date Vetoed: enter a date in this field by clicking the little calendar icon to the right of the field. A pop-up will appear, which allows you to navigate through a calendar and select a date (forward and back dating articles is allowed). The Time field is in 24 hour time, so for a time like 2:00 pm, you will need to enter 14:00:00.
12. Link to Vetoed Version, INTERNAL: if you want to link to a page within your website, click the browse folder icon , navigate to a component used in the published page that you want to link to, and select it.
13. Link to Vetoed Version, EXTERNAL: if you want to link to a page on another website, enter the URL for the page here.
14. Filled Date: enter a date in this field by clicking the little calendar icon to the right of the field. A pop-up will appear, which allows you to navigate through a calendar and select a date (forward and back dating articles is allowed). The Time field is in 24 hour time, so for a time like 2:00 pm, you will need to enter 14:00:00.
15. Legislation List: this field is found under the Metadata tab of the component. Select a keyword from the drop-down. Ideally, your keyword should have already been created when the Legislation List component was created, but if for some reason the keyword you need doesn't exist yet, you can create one by clicking the green plus icon . 
    

    

16. Dublin Core metadata fields: underneath the Legislation List field are a number of Dublin Core metadata fields. You do not need to complete these fields - they are not used anywhere on the website.

For more information about how the fields in a Legislation component render on Legislation List pages, please refer to the Legislation component information page.

Publish Legislation components

When you've completed all the steps above, then all you need to do next is publish your Legislation. 

In the 050 section, navigate to the Legislation components you built in step 6, right-click on one (or more) and select Publishing > Publish.

Select the site you wish to publish to and click Publish. This will send the Legislation to the publishing queue.

Once your Legislation components have published, they will appear on the Legislation List page you created and published in steps 3 and 4.