How to Format and Validate XML Files

XML is not as trendy as JSON, but it powers vast swaths of enterprise software: SOAP APIs, configuration files, office document formats, RSS feeds, and sitemaps. Working with XML means dealing with angle brackets, namespaces, and strict syntax rules — a formatter and validator makes this manageable.

Formatting XML

The ToolStand XML Formatter and Validator takes minified or poorly indented XML and applies consistent indentation. Nested elements are visually aligned, attributes are kept on their opening tags, and the document structure becomes scannable. The formatter also supports minification — stripping whitespace to reduce file size for production.

Validation with DOMParser

The validator uses the browser built-in DOMParser for fast, accurate validation. Invalid XML — unclosed tags, mismatched case, illegal characters — produces a specific error message pointing to the problem location. Unlike a linter that might miss edge cases, DOMParser validation matches how browsers and XML libraries actually parse documents.

XML to JSON conversion

If you need to work with XML data in a JavaScript or Python application, converting to JSON is often easier. The XML to JSON Converter handles bidirectional conversion with recursive mapping — XML attributes become JSON properties, nested elements become nested objects, and repeated elements become arrays. Valid XML guarantees valid JSON output.

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