XML General Rules

General Rules

Here are the general rules to successfully upload certification data through an XML file:

File Format	The file format must be .xml
File Size	The maximum file size for XML files is 50MB. If your XML file is greater than 50MB then you need to split it up and upload multiple files that are each less than 50MB.
Filename	IAF CertSearch recommends that you name your files using the following formats:Single: cb_certs.xmlMultiple files: cb_certs_1.xml, cb_certs_2.xml, cb_certs_3.xml
XML Tag	XML tags must be the same as in the template. If changed IAF CertSearcg will not recognise the field data and will not be uploaded.
XML Tag sequence	Tags should be in order and must be the same as in the template. If changed IAF CertSearch will not recognise the tabs and the data in those tabs will not be uploaded.

Understanding XML file format

Important Notes

1. XML documents must contain one root element that is the parent of all other elements: For cert upload, the root element is <client_certs></client_certs>

2. This line is called the XML prolog: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8?"> The XML prolog is optional. If it exists, it must come first in the document. XML documents can contain international characters, like Norwegian øæå or French êèé. To avoid errors, you should specify the encoding used, or save your XML files as UTF-8. UTF-8 is the default character encoding for XML documents.

3. All XML Elements Must Have a Closing Tag XML tags are case-sensitive. The tag is different from the tag. The opening and closing tags must be written in the same case: any tags there are left unclosed will result in an error: Invalid XML file uploaded Wrong: <certification_body_identity_number>%VALUE GOES HERE Correct: <certification_body_identity_number>%VALUE GOES HERE</certification_body_identity_number>

4. XML Elements Must be Properly Nested

   In XML, all elements must be properly nested within each other: Wrong: <certification_identity_number> <certification>CERT-0001</certification_identity_number> </certification> Correct: <certification> <certification_identity_number>CERT-0001</certification_identity_number></certification>

5. Tags cannot contain blank space eg. <certification identity number> The system will not recognize this syntax and will throw an error: Invalid XML file uploaded

6. All parent tags should be included when uploading an XML file, if the parent tags are missing, the system will throw an error: Invalid XML file uploaded

7. If the certification_standard_and_scheme and its children are empty, the system will throw an error: Invalid XML file uploaded

8. Invalid tags for optional fields will not trigger an error, but the data added within the tag won't be displayed in the system Correct:<original_issue_date>01/20/2021</original_issue_date> Wrong (from file): <orig_issued_date>01/20/2021</orig_issued_date> Data displayed in the system Original Issued Date: (empty)

DOs and DONTs when formatting data in an XML

Things to keep in mind when populating your data into an XML file.

DOs

1. Single data value entry per tag

   Ensure only single data values are entered into one tag. When uploading multiple data values don’t include more than one data value in one tag.

2. Keep data format consistent

   A mismatch in spaces, capitalization, and other types of formatting will cause an error and data will not be matched

3. Keep the syntax similar to what is provided in the template

DONTs

1. Do not leave the mandated fields blank or empty

2. Do not add multiple data to a 1 tag

3. Do not merge multiple data to a 1 tag