How to Validate Instance Messages
After you have constructed a schema, you can check your work by validating a pre-existing instance message that you know is a good representation of such instance messages against the schema.
This topic provides step-by-step instructions for this validation task.
To validate an instance message against a schema
In Solution Explorer, right-click the schema, and then click Properties.
If necessary, in the Properties window, expand the General section of the General tab by clicking its plus (+) icon.
In the Input Instance Filename property value field, either type the name of a file or use the ellipsis (...) button at the right end of the value field to browse for a file that contains the instance message to be validated against the schema, and then click Open.
In Solution Explorer, right-click the schema name, and then click Validate Instance.
In the Output window, view the results. Success and error messages are displayed in this window.
Note
There are some cases instance messages generated from a particular schema may not pass validation with that same schema. For more information about such cases, see Known Issues with Schema Generation and Validation. Generally, you will want to edit a generated instance message and change the data it contains so that it more realistically represents your scenario. Then use this modified instance message to validate your schema.
See Also
Testing Schemas
Schema Validation
Instance Message Generation and Validation