Signature Areas

In many documents a signature is required at various places within the document. Most often a signature is required at the end of a document, sometimes signatures are required within the document on various pages. The Requirements Editor provides a defined set of elements to support the inclusion of signature lines (or signature areas) within a document.

There are two distinct types of signatures that may be added to a document depending on the use case.
  • To define signatures within the body of the document, use the Signature element. This type is often used for credit insurance signatures and notice signatures. 
  • To define signatures for the entire document or agreement, use the SignatureSection element. This type is typically placed at the end of the document. 
In a signature area, whether within the body of the document or in a signature section, there are several options for defining the look and feel of the signature area including:
  • the number of signature lines
  • the text to include in the signature lines
  • filling a signature area (highlighting)
  • adding a box around the signature area
  • For signatures within the body of the document the Signature element (one Signature element for each signature line needed) is used along with the necessary children. The following output would be produced based on the REQ structure shown below.



  • For agreement signatures: use the SignatureSection element; depending on the type of document the children of Signature will vary.  The standard for static documents is to have two entity signature blocks and two individual signature blocks. Standard structure for an entity signature block (each entity block should be in its own SignatureGroup):

    The output would look resemble the following:

    Note: When generating REQs with multiple SignatureSection elements, each subsequent SignatureSection element is indented .2" from the previous.
  • The By element is not used as a general rule, but is available for commercial documents if required. Standard structure for an individual signature block (not required to be in separate SignatureGroups) resembles the following:
  • The Lender signature is another SignatureGroup within the SignatureSection. The standard structure resembles the following:

  • The structure for the entire SignatureSection at a high level would resemble the following:

  • Witness and notaries will use the same signature structure. 
Signature areas are defined through a series of elements; the presentation of the signature areas on the generated document are defined through a styelsheet (signatures.xsl). Signatures and SignatureSections contain the following elements:
Table 1. Element Reference Information
Element Description
By Including the By element will trigger the stylesheet to include “By:” before the signer name below the signature line.
Caption Used to indicate what caption should be used below the Signature or SignerDate area.  Typically Date or DOB (Date of Birth).
EnableHighlight: This element is used to enable highlighting within an REQ when present at the document level. The element enables the SignatureHighlightColor attribute. If this element is not present in a document, highlighting is disabled, even if the SignatureHighlightColor attribute is defined.
EntityName The entity name.
Note: Special characters are not allowed as part of the EntityName value. If invalid characters are entered, a message will appear indicating the use of invalid characters and will prompt you to change the value.
EntityDescription The entity description (ex. a Minnesota corporation).
HighlightSignaturesInd This element is used as a flag (Boolean type) where the default value is False (0). A false value disables the highlighted signatures feature. A true value (True = 1) enables the feature. If submitted as true, the target signature block in the transaction data is highlighted in the defined manner in the output if both the EnableHighlight element is present in the document and the SignatureHighlightColor attribute defined
InternalReference Allows you to reference an existing witness/seal source.
InternalSource Allows you to provide a single source to use as witness/seal content. This would be referenced by InternalReference.
LinkToSignerIdentifier Provides the ability to link witness and notary signature fields to the signer of the document. This optional element is used with Signature and SignatureField elements only.
Notice standard notice
Para standard para.
Seal Including the Seal element will trigger the stylesheet to include (seal) below the signature line.
SignatureGroup Used to group multiple signatures together or group Entity Name and Description with a signature.  There can be multiple levels of SignatureGroups.
Tip: To prevent multiple SignatureGroup elements from spanning across pages, add the KeepTogether attribute to the first SignatureGroup element.

See also: SignatureGroup Element
SignatureGroup/Title The name given to the group of signatures (ex. Borrower, Seller, Lender).
SignatureSection/Title The title of the SignatureSection. Formatted the same way a standard section title would be.
SignerDate Included if the signature line should be dated (signature date or date of birth).  Notary and Witness signatures do not require dates.
SignatureField Allows you to author a SignatureField element directly. The SignatureField element is available only as a child to the FragmentedPara element and contains the following child elements:
  • Height (this is an element, not an attribute)
  • Width (this is an element, not an attribute)
  • UniqueIdentifier: used to link the date with the signature
  • SignerName
  • SignerRole
  • SignerRoleOtherDescription
  • SignerEmail
  • SignerIdentifier
  • SignerSignatureSequence
  • SignerRoleSequence
  • SignatureRequired
  • Type
Note:
  • This element has a HighlightColor attribute allowing you to add a background color to the field similar to the SignatureSection element. For more information, refer to Adding Color to the Signature.
  • The Underline attribute is available for this element with values of Yes and No.
SignatureDateField Allows you to author a SignatureDateField element directly. The SignatureDateField element is available only as a child to the FragmentedPara element and contains the following child elements:
  • Height: height of the field in points or inches
  • Width: width of the field in points or inches
  • SignatureUniqueIdentifier: the unique identifier for the SignatureField this date is associated with
Note:
  • This element has a HighlightColor attribute allowing you to add a background color to the field similar to the SignatureSection element. For more information, refer to Adding Color to the Signature.
  • The Underline attribute is available for this element with values of Yes and No.
SignerDescription Can include the signer title or information for Power of Attorney.  For some consumer products the signer description may not be included to save space.
SignerName Used to indicate the signer name should print below the signature line.

StaticSignature Element

There may be instances in which a static signature must be added above the signature line. The StaticSignature element is provided for these instances.

The StaticSignature element is present wherever the Signature element is located. Only one instance if the StaticSignature element is allowed.

The StaticSignature element uses the Pinyon Script font for the signature and contains two attributes: Height and Width, and contains two child elements: SignerName and SignerDate.

Two elements, SignerNameAboveLine and SignerDateAboveLine are available as child elements to the StaticSignature element. These elements allow you to customize the Signer Name and Date values above a StaticSignature line in order to author a signature and date separate from the values below the line.