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How do you go about validating XML documents?

There are several ways to validate XML documents, both from your own computer and online.

As an example of one way to validate an XML document, open up an internet browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.  Your browser may have validating tools built in, or you may have to download them from the website of the browser’s creator (in the instance of Internet Explorer, the validation software is a file known as iexmltls.exe, which can be downloaded from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/.  Load your XML document using this tool, and it will scan the code for errors.  If the code runs properly without any errors in definitions or layout, then it will be shown validated.

There are also online validation checkers, such as the one located at one of the subpages of the Edinburgh Language Technology Group at http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~richard/xml-check.html.  To use this validation technique, you simply input the URL of your XML document and select the appropriate options.  The program runs, checking the validation of your document and then displays the results for you.