After using the Salesforce wsdl2apex to generate apex I'll often need to make some tweaks by hand to allow for automated testing.
When regenerating for WSDL updates I've found the order of the elements can change dramatically. With large WSDLs this can make migrating the changes by hand a time consuming exercise.
For example, below is the SourceGear DiffMerge overview from two versions of a 5000 line WSDL. (Turned on it's side)
It isn't clear to me why the order of the XML elements is changing so much between versions, but it does make tracking the actual differences more difficult.
One possible solution I've found is to run the WSDL through an XSLT to sort the various elements by name.
I've appropriated the following from Glen Mazza - Using XSLT to organize SOAP contracts (WSDLs and XSDs)
One easy way to apply it is to open the WSDL in Visual Studio as XML and then use XML > Start XSLT Debugging to apply it.
After processing the line counts went from 3475 and 5005 to 3472 and 5002 respectively. Now I can clearly see where new elements have been added in the diff:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE stylesheet [
<!ENTITY space "<xsl:text> </xsl:text>">
<!ENTITY ivSp "<xsl:text> </xsl:text>">
<!ENTITY tab "<xsl:text> </xsl:text>">
<!ENTITY cr "<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>">
]>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd"
xmlns:wsp="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/09/policy">
<xsl:template match="wsdl:definitions">
&cr;
<!-- By itself, xsl:copy outputs only the element referred to.
It needs additional coding as below to copy the
element's attributes and descendant elements.
-->
<xsl:copy>
<!-- output all attributes of the top-level element -->
<xsl:for-each select="@*">
<xsl:copy/>
</xsl:for-each>&cr;
<xsl:for-each select="./wsdl:types">
&ivSp;<wsdl:types>&cr;
<xsl:apply-templates select="./xs:schema"/>
&ivSp;</wsdl:types>&cr;
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./wsdl:message">
<xsl:sort select="@name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./wsdl:portType">
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./wsdl:binding">
<xsl:sort select="@name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./wsp:Policy">
<!--if wish to sort: xsl:sort select="@wsu:Id"/-->
&ivSp;<xsl:copy-of select="."/>&cr;
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./wsdl:service">
&ivSp;<xsl:copy-of select="."/>&cr;
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<!--
Each immediate child of the top-level element is indented four spaces
from the top-level item. May need to convert original WSDL from tabs
to spaces first.
-->
<xsl:template match="wsdl:message">
&ivSp;<xsl:copy-of select="."/>&cr;
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="wsdl:portType | wsdl:binding">
&ivSp;<xsl:copy>
<!-- output all (@*) attributes of the top-level element -->
<xsl:for-each select="@*">
<xsl:copy/>
</xsl:for-each>&cr;
<xsl:for-each select="./*[not(self::wsdl:operation)]">
&ivSp;&ivSp;<xsl:copy-of select="."/>&cr;
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./wsdl:operation">
<xsl:sort select="@name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>&ivSp;
</xsl:copy>&cr;
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="wsdl:operation">
&ivSp;&ivSp;<xsl:copy-of select="."/>&cr;
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="xs:schema">
&ivSp;&ivSp;<xsl:copy>
<!-- output all (@*) attributes of the top-level xs:schema element -->
<xsl:for-each select="@*">
<xsl:copy/>
</xsl:for-each>&cr;
<xsl:for-each select="./xs:import">
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./xs:simpleType">
<!-- sort the simpleTypes by their name attribute first -->
<xsl:sort select="@name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./xs:complexType">
<xsl:sort select="@name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="./xs:element">
<xsl:sort select="@name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
&ivSp;&ivSp;</xsl:copy>&cr;
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="xs:import | xs:simpleType | xs:complexType | xs:element">
<!-- Unlike xsl:copy above, xsl:copy-of automatically copies the
element's attributes and its descendant elements. -->
&ivSp;&ivSp;&ivSp;<xsl:copy-of select="."/>&cr;
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
