This tool checks metadata XML in two ways: well-formedness (every opening tag has a matching closing tag, properly nested) and required-field presence (each tag name you list actually appears). Metadata records for repositories like Dryad live as XML, and a record with an unclosed tag or a missing creator field will be rejected on ingest — usually with an unhelpful error, after you have already moved on. The limits are stated: this is tag-balance plus field-presence checking, not full schema validation against an XSD, which would also check types, order, and allowed values. Inside those limits, it catches the most common breakages.
How to use it
- Paste the metadata XML.
- List required field tag names, comma-separated.
- Click Check XML.
- Fix unclosed or mismatched tags first.
- Add any missing required fields.
Worked example
A record reads
Honest limits
Tag-balance checking cannot catch wrong values (a date written as “soon”), wrong namespaces, attributes that a schema requires, or elements in the wrong order — all of which full XSD validation would flag. It also treats any occurrence of
Who it is for
This tool is for researchers preparing repository metadata, data managers checking batches of records, and students learning what well-formed XML actually means. It is a pre-flight check, not a certification.
Going further
Build the required-fields list from the repository’s own documentation, not from memory: required fields differ between repositories and even between collections in one repository, and a list copied from a different project will either miss a mandatory field or demand one that does not apply. Keep the list in a file beside your metadata templates, update it when the repository changes its requirements, and run this check as part of the export step — every time, not just when a submission fails. Pre-flight checks only work when they are habitual, and habit comes from putting the check inside the workflow rather than beside it. Treat this checker as the first gate in a small pipeline, not as a single heroic check. Export the metadata, run the balance and field check, fix what it flags, then run the repository validator, and only then submit. Each gate catches a different class of error, and skipping the middle gate because the first passed is how a record with valid tags but wrong field order reaches a reviewer. Automate the first gate if you export often: a script that runs the same check on every export removes the temptation to skip it on a busy day. The goal is not a perfect record on the first try but a boring, repeatable sequence where errors are caught early, cheaply, and by a machine, while human attention stays on the content of the metadata rather than its punctuation. Keep a copy of the exact required-fields list used for each submission batch, because repositories revise their requirements and a record that passed last year may fail this year for a field nobody added; the saved list turns a confusing rejection into a quick diff between what was required then and what is required now.
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Versión en español · Network Adjacency Matrix Builder · All free online tools.
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