Guide
XML API Testing Handbook
Debug XML transport, well-formedness, namespaces, XPath selection, conversion, and schema boundaries.
Dated source and synthetic-example checks; no XSD or runtime service validation is claimed.
Related tools
Start with transport and bytes
Record status, Content-Type, charset, and a small redacted payload. XML parse errors can result from truncation, wrong encoding, or markup defects; changing XPath cannot repair malformed input.
Validate well-formedness
Check one root element, matching tags, quoted attributes, entity syntax, and text placement. DevPouch rejects DTD/entity declarations and does not perform XSD validation.
Treat namespaces as identity
Namespace prefixes can change while URIs remain stable. Bind the URI to a test prefix and use it in XPath, including for elements written under a default namespace.
Write focused XPath checks
Choose a context, select nodes, and assert both count and value. Inspect an attribute, text node, and missing path separately; an empty node set is a legitimate result, not necessarily a syntax failure.
Convert with a declared mapping
Attributes, text, repeated elements, mixed content, and namespace declarations do not have a universal JSON equivalent. Use @attributes and #text only as a documented local convention, and review converted output before reuse.
Test the application contract
Well-formed XML does not prove required fields, schema validity, signature validity, authorization, or business meaning. Keep those checks in their owning layers.
Privacy and limits
Use synthetic examples, especially for SOAP envelopes and integration logs. DevPouch processes text locally and never resolves external entities or remote references.
Worked synthetic namespace lookup
The document <order xmlns="urn:orders"><id>7</id></order> is well-formed. The XPath //id selects no nodes because the id element belongs to urn:orders. Bind a prefix such as o to that URI and evaluate //o:id to select the element with text 7. An empty result is a query outcome, not an XML syntax error. Converting this document to JSON may lose namespace identity unless the mapping preserves it explicitly.
- Check well-formedness before XPath selection.
- Bind namespace URIs explicitly, including the document's default namespace.
- Test schema validity and application behavior in separate steps.
References
FAQ
Does this handbook replace testing the actual service?
No. It organizes local inspection and test design; runtime behavior requires controlled tests against the owning system.