What is XML Formatter & XPath?
XML Formatter & XPath is a dual-purpose tool for working with XML documents. The formatter transforms raw or minified XML into cleanly indented, human-readable markup. The XPath tester lets you write and evaluate XPath expressions against your document, returning matched nodes instantly.
XML remains widely used in enterprise APIs (SOAP, SAML), Android manifests, Maven build files, RSS/Atom feeds, and legacy system integrations. Despite its verbosity, XML carries semantic meaning through namespaces and attributes that require careful handling. DevKit parses XML with full namespace awareness, ensuring your formatting and queries work correctly even with complex documents.
How to Use XML Formatter & XPath
Paste your XML into the input editor. The tool validates the document on input and reports any well-formedness errors with line and column positions. Tap Format to apply indentation, or Minify to strip whitespace for compact transmission.
To query the document, switch to the XPath tab and type an expression. Results update as you type, with matched nodes highlighted in the tree view. Use expressions like //book[@category='fiction']/title to find specific elements or count(//item) to aggregate data.
Common Use Cases
- SOAP API debugging: Format and inspect SOAP request/response envelopes to verify headers, body content, and fault details.
- SAML troubleshooting: Pretty-print SAML assertions and responses before decoding, then use XPath to extract specific attributes.
- Android development: Format AndroidManifest.xml and layout files to review permissions, activities, and view hierarchies.
- Build configuration: Inspect and format Maven pom.xml or Ant build files to understand dependency trees and plugin configurations.
- Feed parsing: Format and query RSS or Atom feeds to extract article titles, links, and publication dates using XPath.