BizTalk Schemas – Unexpected XML declaration. The XML declaration must be the first node in the document, and no white space characters are allowed to appear before it

Today I found an error in the MSDN forum that I encountered and suffered with him in the past:

“Unexpected XML declaration. The XML declaration must be the first node in the document, and no white space characters are allowed to appear before it. Line 1, position 4.”

Cause

• You have a single whitespace character on the first line of your schema before the start of the XML declaration.

Or

• You have a single whitespace character on the first line of your XML file before the start of the XML declaration.

Solution 1

• Open your XSD file in Notepad and remove the character, save and then re-validate- the problem should go away.

Solution 2

• When using XML file you must start declaration in the first row with <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ ?> right away. No space is allowed in the beginning of the xml file.

Author: Sandro Pereira

Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc. He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community. View all posts by Sandro Pereira