Problem when opening a xml file

[Nosmas]

I have a small program, which uses a number of xml files. The program is not working properly and I suspect that is due to a problem with one of the xml files. When I click on any except one of those files it opens in a MS Edge (the default Windows 10 browser) window and all the elements, sub-elements, data and closing tags can be seen and read. Clicking on the problem file opens it in Edge BUT only shows the Root element, followed by the first element (called Appointment) then a large (vertical) space then another Appointment first element. There are (correctly) 25 of these Appointment elements and NO closing tags for them OR the Root element. However, clicking on ANY of the first Appointment elements immediately causes all the missing lines to be displayed – i.e. various other elements and their data and closing tags and also the closing tag for the Root element.

The file thus displayed is a perfectly normal xml file and it seems that there is something (possibly damage/corruption) that is prohibiting it from opening properly in the first place. Opening the xml file in Excel 2016 then saving as another name has no effect on its behaviour. Any thoughts please as to the cause and way to correct.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Open the file in Wordpad, and edit it as needed.

When you save the file, make sure you save it as an Office Open XML Document.

Now go into File Manager and find the document. Unhide the extension. It will have the following extension: ".xml.doc". Remove the ".doc" part from the extension, so that it has only ".xml" as an extension.

 

[Mellon Head]

A better solution would be to open it in Notepad++. It should open properly, unless it is corrupted, and you can save it in the same format that it loads in, which is probably native XML.

I use Notepad++ exclusively for editing XML and other languages, such as HTML, etc. It's extremely flexible, and free.

Did I mention free?

You can get it here:

Notepad++ Home

 

[Nosmas]

mrjomphelps Thanks for that idea but unfortunately it hasn't worked for me. Having saved the file as you suggested I then tried to open it. In Internet Explorer and MS Edge I get a completely blank page. In Notepad, Wordpad or Office XML Handler (which uses Notepad) I just get unintelligible "mumbo jumbo". In XML Notepad it states "Data at the root level is invalid Line 1 Position 1 and asks if I wish to open it using Notepad. Answering yes just results in "mumbo jumbo" as before.

The file only opens correctly in Word 2016, (i.e. showing all the elements etc.) but if I try to open any of the other XML files using Word, I get a message that "The file contains custom XML elements that are no longer supported in Word. Saving the fie will remove these elements permanently", and only the data for each element is shown for these files and there is no sign of the various elements themselves.

Don't know if any of the above gives some indication of what is wrong, but it's all very frustrating . Can't help feeling that it is something very simple!

 

[mrjimphelps]

There must be a new XML format and an old XML format. It sounds like most of your files are in the old format. However, the one file is in the new format, and it therefore opens correctly only in Word 2016. Either that, or maybe the file was saved in Word 2016, and now you have to continue with Word 2016 for that file.