XMLUnit 0.8 issues with files and strings

[Bhaskar Mulpuri]

I have a file that has the following xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<request>
    <order_query ordernumber="3065"/>
    <order_query ordernumber="3066"/>
</request>

There are end of line and tab characters in the above file.

I have an xml string as follows:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<request><order_query ordernumber="3065"/><order_query ordernumber="3066"/></request>

There is one end of line character in the above xml.

My code is as follows:

XMLUnit.setIgnoreWhitespace(true);
assertXMLEqual("Query XML Not Similar For Collection", xmlFileReader, new StringReader(testQueryXml));

// xmlFileReader is a FileReader for the above mentioned file.
// testQueryXml is a string that has the above xml contained in a string.

The error I get is
[different] Expected number of child nodes '5' but was '2' - comparing <request...> to <request...>

My understanding is that if I set the XMLUnit.setIgnoreWhitespace(true), then all form feeds, tabs, etc.. are read as empty elements and ignored.

Is this incorrect or is this a bug in XMLUnit?

Thanx
Bhaskar

[tim bacon]

Your understanding is correct - the whole point of setIgnoreWhitespace(true) is to remove these redundant text nodes. Indeed the JUnit tests prove that it works OK with Xalan/Xerces as the underlying XML tools - look at or better try to run test_Diff.testXMLUnitDoesNotWorkWellWithFiles() and see what happens.

Rgds,

Tim