#291 Error parsing XML (3)

[Anonymous]

Hello, I used to get the very occasional error when attempting to view/present/edit a song within the PC software (no problem on Android). However, more recently many more songs seem to be generating the error:
Error parsing XML (then the location of the song file) (3)
Help please :)

[SvA]

OpenSong song files are XML files. They are read by an XML parser. This component cannot read your file, and unfortunately, in your case, does not return a helpful error message. In other words: your song file is likely corrupted. But don't despair. Chances are you can fix it using a decent text editor.

You might want to try an XML validator, which hopefully tells you more about what is wrong with your file(s), and where within that file the error is to be found. Only check the file is well formed. (There is no DTD or xsd specifying the xml application, so you can't check if the xml file is "valid" in the technical sense of what an XML validator does.)

I usually use an open source command line tool named XML Starlet for that purpose, but there are other option, including free online validators.

A common cause with some versions of OpenSong was the text boxes picking up control characters which got written back into the file, thereby causing incorrect UTF-8 encoded files.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much - I looked at one or two of the corrupted songs using Notepad and noticed some tags that had been duplicated (eg an extra 'ong>' after '') - I removed the offending tag and the issue seems to be fixed! I'm hoping that it'll be as simple for the other ones :)