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Validation Panel

Open the Validation panel from the activity bar to validate the active document.

The panel offers a SOURCES section, a Single file / Batch mode toggle, a primary Run Validation button, a status line, and - in Batch mode - a color-coded RESULTS list.

Sources

The SOURCES section shows the schemas bound to the active document, and its rows follow the document's type: for XML-family documents it shows the XSD and Schematron rows, for JSON documents a single JSON Schema row. Each row has two lines: the first carries the icon, a caption (XSD, Schematron or JSON Schema), the favorites button and Change; the second shows the bound file's name (long names are shortened in the middle - hover for the full path). An empty row shows a hint such as "No XSD bound — choose or drop a file", and clicking it works like Change. Click the Change button next to a source to pick a different file. Every row carries a star button next to its Change button: on the XSD row it opens a quick-select menu of your favorited XSD schemas, on the Schematron row a menu of your favorited Schematron files, and on the JSON Schema row a menu of your favorited JSON files - pick one to bind it in a single click, without browsing the file system. The menus group entries by favorites folder when you use more than one, and are grayed out while you have no matching favorites. (See Favorites.)

All source rows are drop targets: drop an .xsd file from your file manager onto the XSD row, a .sch / .schematron file onto the Schematron row, or a .json schema onto the JSON Schema row, to bind it to the active document in one move - the row glows green while a loadable file hovers over it and red for a wrong file type (which is rejected). The dropped file behaves exactly like one picked via Change or a favorite, including appearing in the recent list.

  • The referenced XSD binds automatically. When the XML declares its schema (xsi:schemaLocation / xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation - local or remote), that XSD is bound when the file is opened, so the declared schema is the default. The declaration is also re-checked against the current editor content before every validation run (Run Validation, the toolbar's Validate, and live validation): a schema reference you add or change in the editor is picked up immediately - even in unsaved or untitled documents - and a removed reference downgrades validation to a well-formedness check (the status bar shows "No XSD"). A declared location is first looked up in your XML catalogs and Schema Library mappings; remote https schema URLs that no catalog redirects are downloaded to the schema cache, and if the download fails, a Schema Library mapping for the document's namespace is used instead. The status bar shows how the schema was found - plain "XSD: name" for a declared location, "(catalog)", "(library)" or "(manual)" otherwise (see Status Bar). A schema you picked yourself (via Change, a favorite, or the status bar) is never overridden.
  • JSON documents work the same way: a top-level "$schema" member pointing at a schema file or URL auto-binds that JSON Schema on open, is re-checked before every validation run, and a manual choice always wins. (Values pointing at json-schema.org meta-schemas are dialect declarations, not bindings, and are ignored.) See JSON Editor for details and the supported drafts.
  • Click a bound source name to open the file in the editor - one click on the XSD or Schematron name opens it as a tab for direct editing.

Tip

You can also bind a schema without opening the Validation panel: click the schema indicator in the status bar (for XML it reads "No XSD", "XSD: name", "Detecting XSD…" or "XSD error"; for JSON documents the same states read "No JSON Schema", "JSON Schema: name", and so on; see Status Bar) or click the editor toolbar's Schema button (Set XSD Schema…) and pick a schema file. For XML the binding drives both IntelliSense and schema validation; for JSON it drives validation.

Running a Validation

  1. Pick a mode with the Single file | Batch toggle.

  2. Click Run Validation.

  3. Single file validates the active document against the bound XSD and/or Schematron.

  4. Batch validates a whole set of XML files. In Batch mode, Run Validation opens a small menu with two ways to pick the files:
    • Select XML files… - a file chooser where you pick one or more XML files.
    • Select folder… - a folder chooser; every *.xml file in the folder and all of its subfolders is validated.

The RESULTS list then shows one row per file with a status icon (red ✕ = errors, orange ⚠ = warnings only, green ✓ = valid) and a badge with the problem count. Select a row to see that file's problems in the panel's PROBLEMS list; double-click to open the file. The plain-text batch report opens from the REPORTS & CHECKS section (Open Last Batch Report).

The status line below the button summarises the run: Valid, 1 problem / N problems, or - when no schema is bound and only the well-formedness check ran - Well-formed · no schema bound (shown neutral, not green - in the panel and in the Inspector's badge: bind an XSD in SOURCES to validate against a schema).

The RESULTS list and the panel's own PROBLEMS list are only shown in Batch mode. In Single file mode the problems are listed in the PROBLEMS panel below the editor, and the side panel shows a single row such as "3 problems — show below the editor" - click it to expand and focus that PROBLEMS panel.

Problems

Problems appear in two places:

  • The PROBLEMS list in the side panel (Batch mode only): the problems of the file selected in RESULTS. Export Problems to Excel in the REPORTS & CHECKS section saves the current list as an .xlsx workbook.
  • The PROBLEMS panel below the editor: it appears automatically when validation finds problems, shows error/warning counts in its header, and can be collapsed to just the header. Each row shows the message and the file/line in a monospaced label.

Every row in the PROBLEMS panel below the editor carries a source badge - XSD, Schematron, Well-formed, or JSON Schema - so when a run combines several checks you can tell at a glance where each problem comes from. Hovering a Schematron row shows a tooltip with the full message, the failed rule/test expression, and the XPath of the failing node.

Long messages are cut off in the row. Right-click a row in the PROBLEMS panel below the editor to copy it: Copy Message (just the message text), Copy Problem (severity, source, message, file and line/column, plus rule and context for Schematron) or Copy All Problems (one problem per line). Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on macOS) copies the selected row like Copy Problem.

Selecting a problem in either list jumps to its line - and, for XML and XSD errors, to the reported column - in the editor (Text view). This works for Schematron problems too: the failing rule's context node is resolved back to its line in the XML, so a click navigates straight to the offending element.

Schematron problems whose rules define quick fixes (SQF) can be corrected in place: right-click the problem row in either list and pick a fix from the Quick Fix submenu, or use the yellow lightbulb that appears in the editor gutter on lines with fixable problems (click it, or press Alt+Enter / Ctrl+. on the line). See Schematron Quick Fixes.

Detailed Schematron Report

A full report of the last Schematron run, opened as a tool tab and saveable as HTML or SVRL.

After validating a document that has a Schematron file bound, open the report in either of two ways:

  • Click the Validation Report row in the Validation panel's REPORTS & CHECKS section (it is enabled once a run with a bound Schematron has finished).

The report opens as a Schematron Report tool tab showing the document name, the Schematron file, a severity summary (errors / warnings), and a table with one row per finding:

Column Content
Severity Error or Warning
Line Line in the XML document
Message The rule's message text
Rule / Test The Schematron test expression that failed
Context (XPath) The XPath of the failing node
Fix A lightbulb button on findings that offer Schematron Quick Fixes — click it to apply a fix directly from the report

Click a row to jump straight to that line in the editor. Two buttons export the report:

  • Save Report (HTML) - a self-contained HTML file you can archive or share.
  • Save SVRL (XML) - the raw SVRL output (Schematron Validation Report Language) of the run, for further processing by other tools.

The Tool Sections and the ⋮ Menu

The tools are labelled rows (icon + name) in two collapsible sections below the status line. Both start collapsed so the results keep their space; click a header to expand it.

REPORTS & CHECKS - results and exports of a run:

Row What It Does
Validation Report Open the detailed Schematron report of the last validation run (enabled after such a run)
Export Problems to Excel Save the current problems as an Excel workbook (enabled while there are problems)
Open Last Batch Report Open the plain-text report of the last batch run

FundsXML validation lives in the FundsXML panel (when the FundsXML extension is enabled).

SCHEMATRON AUTHORING - tools for writing Schematron rules (usable without a run):

Row What It Does
Rule Templates Insert ready-made Schematron rule patterns
Schematron Tester Run the Schematron rules against an XML file
Rule Builder Build rules visually
Check Rules Run an error detector over the Schematron itself and show a categorised issue table
Schematron Documentation Open the Schematron documentation generator

The panel header's ⋮ (overflow) menu keeps only the Validate while typing toggle for continuous (debounced) validation.

Check Rules inspects the Schematron file for problems and lists them by category - XML syntax, structural, XPath, semantic, and best-practice issues - so you can fix mistakes in the rules before you rely on them. See Schematron Validation for details.