XML Viewer
How It Works
- 1
Paste or Upload XML Document
Paste XML from SOAP APIs, RSS feeds, configuration files (web.xml, pom.xml), or data exports. Supports elements, attributes, namespaces (xmlns), CDATA sections, processing instructions (), and DOCTYPE declarations. Handles UTF-8, UTF-16, and ISO-8859-1 encodings.
- 2
Parser Validates XML Structure
DOM parser validates well-formedness: matching opening/closing tags, proper nesting hierarchy, escaped special characters (<, >, &), valid attribute quoting, and correct namespace declarations. Detects errors like unclosed tags, invalid characters, or mismatched elements with precise line/column error reporting.
- 3
Render Interactive Tree View
Displays hierarchical tree with collapsible nodes (click to expand/collapse elements). Syntax highlighting: blue for tag names, green for attribute names, red for attribute values, gray for text content. Shows namespace prefixes, CDATA sections, and processing instructions. Supports XPath query testing and JSON export for modern APIs.
Text Editor vs XML Viewer
| Feature | Text Editor | XML Viewer |
|---|---|---|
| Structure Visibility | Text editor (flat) | Tree view (hierarchical) |
| Tag Matching | Manual counting | Auto-validate nesting |
| Namespace Handling | Hard to track | Clear namespace display |
| XPath Testing | External tools needed | Built-in XPath query |
| Large Files | Slow, no folding | Collapsible nodes, fast |
| Format/Minify | Manual or CLI tools | One-click formatting |
XML Viewing Examples
Example: XML Tree View
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<bookstore xmlns="http://example.com/books">
<book id="1" category="fiction">
<title lang="en">The Great Gatsby</title>
<author>F. Scott Fitzgerald</author>
<year>1925</year>
<price currency="USD">10.99</price>
</book>
<book id="2" category="science">
<title lang="en">A Brief History of Time</title>
<author>Stephen Hawking</author>
<year>1988</year>
<price currency="USD">15.99</price>
</book>
</bookstore>Tree View Structure:
▼ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
▼ <bookstore xmlns="http://example.com/books">
▼ <book id="1" category="fiction">
▶ <title lang="en">The Great Gatsby</title>
▶ <author>F. Scott Fitzgerald</author>
▶ <year>1925</year>
▶ <price currency="USD">10.99</price>
▼ <book id="2" category="science">
▶ <title lang="en">A Brief History of Time</title>
▶ <author>Stephen Hawking</author>
▶ <year>1988</year>
▶ <price currency="USD">15.99</price>
Document Structure:
Root Element: bookstore
Namespace: http://example.com/books
Child Elements: 2 book elements
Book 1 Attributes:
id="1"
category="fiction"
Book 1 Children:
title (lang="en"): "The Great Gatsby"
author: "F. Scott Fitzgerald"
year: "1925"
price (currency="USD"): "10.99"
XPath Queries:
//book[@category='fiction'] → 1 result (Book 1)
//price[@currency='USD'] → 2 results
//book[year>1950]/title → 1 result ("A Brief History of Time")
Validation:
✓ Well-formed XML (matching tags)
✓ Valid namespace declaration
✓ Proper attribute quoting
✓ Correct character encoding (UTF-8)
Export Options:
✓ Export to JSON
✓ Copy formatted XML
✓ Download as .xml fileKey Changes:
The viewer transforms flat XML text into interactive tree structure with collapsible nodes (▼ expanded, ▶ collapsed). The XML declaration specifies version 1.0 and UTF-8 encoding. The root element <bookstore> has namespace declaration (xmlns) for schema validation. Each <book> element has attributes (id, category) displayed inline with syntax highlighting—attribute names in green, values in red. Child elements (title, author, year, price) are indented to show nesting hierarchy. The tree view allows collapsing sections to focus on specific parts of large XML documents. XPath query support enables finding elements by path (//book[@category='fiction']) or conditions (year>1950). The viewer validates well-formedness: matching opening/closing tags, proper attribute quoting, escaped special characters (<, >, &). This is critical for debugging SOAP API responses, RSS feed parsing errors, or configuration file syntax issues. Developers use XML viewers to inspect API responses from legacy systems, validate XML schema compliance, test XPath expressions for data extraction, and convert XML to JSON for modern applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the XML viewer handle namespaces and schema validation?
The viewer fully supports XML namespaces including default namespaces (xmlns="..."), prefixed namespaces (xmlns:prefix="..."), and multiple namespace declarations. It displays namespace URIs in the tree view and validates namespace-qualified elements. For schema validation, the viewer can validate against inline XSD schemas (xsi:schemaLocation) or external schemas you provide. Validation checks include: element names match schema definitions, required attributes are present, data types match (xs:int, xs:string, xs:date), cardinality constraints (minOccurs, maxOccurs), and enumeration restrictions. Error messages pinpoint the exact element violating schema rules, showing expected vs actual values. This is critical for SOAP web services, configuration files following XML schemas, and data interchange formats requiring strict validation.
Can the viewer parse and display XML with CDATA sections and entities?
Yes. The viewer correctly handles CDATA sections (<![CDATA[...]]>) which contain literal text that should not be parsed as XML markup—commonly used for embedding code snippets, JSON, or HTML within XML. CDATA content displays with special highlighting to distinguish it from regular text nodes. The viewer also resolves XML entities: predefined entities (<, >, &, ', "), numeric character references (A for "A", A for "A" in hex), and custom entities defined in DOCTYPE declarations. Entity resolution happens during parsing, showing the decoded values in the tree view while preserving the original entity syntax in formatted output. This ensures accurate display of XML documents with special characters, mathematical symbols, or embedded markup.
What XML-based formats does the viewer support beyond plain XML?
The viewer supports all XML-based formats including: SOAP messages (web service requests/responses with SOAP envelopes), RSS/Atom feeds (news syndication with channel/item elements), SVG graphics (Scalable Vector Graphics with path/circle elements), XSLT stylesheets (transformation templates), XSD schemas (XML Schema Definition documents), WSDL files (Web Service Description Language), Maven POM files (pom.xml for Java projects), Android layouts (XML UI definitions), and configuration files (Spring applicationContext.xml, web.xml). The viewer automatically detects format-specific elements and provides context-aware highlighting. For SOAP messages, it highlights SOAP-ENV:Envelope, Header, and Body elements. For RSS feeds, it recognizes channel, item, title, and link elements. This makes the viewer versatile for debugging web services, analyzing feed structures, and inspecting configuration files across different technologies.