XML Format Validator

A Python tool that recursively scans directories and validates XML files for well-formedness, with optional XSD schema validation.

Features

• Recursive directory scanning through all subdirectories
• XML well-formedness validation using Python's built-in xml.etree.ElementTree
• XSD schema validation using lxml (optional dependency)
• GUI or CLI -- folder browser dialog or command-line path for headless/scripting use
• Error reporting with specific error messages, line numbers, and file counts
• Cross-platform -- works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Installation

git clone https://github.com/NullSpace-BitCradle/XML_Format_Validator.git
cd XML_Format_Validator

Python 3.x is required. No additional dependencies are needed for well-formedness checks.

For XSD schema validation, install lxml:

pip install lxml

GUI mode requires tkinter (included with most Python installations).

Usage

Well-formedness check (CLI):

python xml_checker.py /path/to/directory

XSD schema validation:

python xml_checker.py /path/to/directory --schema schema.xsd

GUI mode (folder browser):

python xml_checker.py

If no path is provided, a folder browser dialog opens. The script recursively scans all .xml files (case-insensitive) and reports results.

Output Examples

All files valid (well-formedness):

All 12 XML files are well-formed.

All files valid (schema):

All 12 XML files are schema-valid.

Failures found:

/path/to/bad_file.xml: XML is not well-formed. Error: mismatched tag: line 5, column 10

2 of 12 files failed validation:
  /path/to/bad_file.xml
  /path/to/another_bad.xml

Functions

Function	Description	Returns
check_xml_format(file_path)	Validates a single XML file for well-formedness	True if valid, False otherwise
validate_xml_schema(file_path, schema)	Validates an XML file against a compiled XSD schema	True if valid, False otherwise
load_schema(schema_path)	Loads and compiles an XSD schema file	Compiled lxml.etree.XMLSchema object
check_files_in_directory(directory, schema=None)	Recursively scans and validates all XML files	Prints results to console
select_directory()	Opens a GUI folder selection dialog	Directory path string, or empty string if cancelled

Testing

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

18 tests total: 13 core tests (no dependencies) + 5 schema validation tests (require lxml, auto-skipped if not installed).

Limitations

• Limited to files with .xml extension (case-insensitive)
• XSD schema validation requires the lxml package
• GUI mode requires tkinter (install with sudo apt-get install python3-tk on Linux if missing)
• DTD validation is not supported

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.