Comparing similar xml files with XmlUnit with unordered tags (same tag name with different attributes)

Question

I am trying successfully XmlUnit, and is very helpful in my job. Now, I have a little problem, that I don't know how to solve. I have a java class, that has a Set, and when transforming it into XML, the elements inside can have any order.

When I try these two files in XmlUnit it works (Diff says that they are similar):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Monitor>
    <AvailableMeasures>
        <MeasureDescriptorA name="netInput_mynetwork"></MeasureDescriptorA>
        <MeasureDescriptor name="netInput_myothernetwork"></MeasureDescriptor>
    </AvailableMeasures>
</Monitor>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Monitor>
    <AvailableMeasures>
        <MeasureDescriptor name="netInput_myothernetwork"></MeasureDescriptor>
        <MeasureDescriptorA name="netInput_mynetwork"></MeasureDescriptorA>
    </AvailableMeasures>
</Monitor>

But when the tags have the same name (with different attributes) it doesn't work (it mixes the attributes, and expect the one in the other tag):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Monitor>
    <AvailableMeasures>
        <MeasureDescriptor name="netInput_myothernetwork"></MeasureDescriptor>
        <MeasureDescriptor name="netInput_mynetwork"></MeasureDescriptor>
    </AvailableMeasures>
</Monitor>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Monitor>
    <AvailableMeasures>
        <MeasureDescriptor name="netInput_mynetwork"></MeasureDescriptor>
        <MeasureDescriptor name="netInput_myothernetwork"></MeasureDescriptor>
    </AvailableMeasures>
</Monitor>

Is there any workaround?

Answer 1

I found the solution by myself.

Diff diff = new Diff(controlXml, responseXml);
diff.overrideElementQualifier(new ElementNameAndAttributeQualifier());

Answer 2

This seems to work for XMLUnit 2.0:

    Diff myDiff = DiffBuilder.compare(Input.fromString(expected))
            .withTest(Input.fromString(actual))
            .withNodeMatcher(new DefaultNodeMatcher(ElementSelectors.byNameAndAllAttributes))
            .checkForSimilar()
            .build();

Answer 3

Above solution only works with attributes order but it will not work if you have issues with the same element type order like below:

    <CustomerDataSet>
        <CustomerData>
            <Key>ACCOUNT_TYPE</Key>
            <Value>GREEN</Value>
        </CustomerData>
        <CustomerData name = "bla">
            <Key>EMAIL_ADDRESS</Key>
            <Value>MVNO_Automation_8@test.fr</Value>
        </CustomerData>
        <CustomerData>
            <Key>DATE_OF_BRITH</Key>
            <Value>01-01-1976</Value>
        </CustomerData>
    </CustomerDataSet>

            <CustomerDataSet>
        <CustomerData name = "bla">
            <Key>EMAIL_ADDRESS</Key>
            <Value>MVNO_Automation_8@test.fr</Value>
        </CustomerData>
        <CustomerData>
            <Key>ACCOUNT_TYPE</Key>
            <Value>GREEN</Value>
        </CustomerData>
        <CustomerData>
            <Key>DATE_OF_BRITH</Key>
            <Value>01-01-1976</Value>
        </CustomerData>
    </CustomerDataSet>

However, you can work around this by using RecursiveElementNameAndTextQualifier instead.