Invalid XML content received when initiating Zeep client

Question

When initialising a Zeep client like so

url = 'http://www.filmratings.com/Filmratings_CARA/WebCaraSearch/Service.asmx?wsdl'
client = Client(wsdl = url)

I get the error message

XMLSyntaxError: Invalid XML content received (Opening and ending tag mismatch: p line 122 and ul, line 124, column 20)

I have tried solutions mentioned here but have had no success. I have a feeling that I need to change the way the XML parser works by some parameter but I am unsure since I am new to using this library.

Answer 1

Overview

#1 Check WSDL

Open Browser to access this URL

https://www.filmratings.com/Filmratings_CARA/WebCaraSearch/Service.asmx?wsdl

Should be displayed XML content

#2 Get function list

SoapUI Open Source

Paste the WSDL URL in here then press OK

You can get the function list

#3 Test function

Clicked one of function

Then click Request1

Superman for <cara:search>

1978 for <cara:year>

Then press ▶

And Click XML tab in next panel That is result of function call

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
   <soap:Body>
      <GetExportWithTitleYearResponse xmlns="http://cara.org/">
         <GetExportWithTitleYearResult><![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><SearchResults><title><name><![CDATA[Superman]]]]>><![CDATA[</name><year><![CDATA[1978]]]]>><![CDATA[</year><url><![CDATA[http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Superman]]]]>><![CDATA[</url><rating><![CDATA[PG]]]]>><![CDATA[</rating><ratingReason><![CDATA[]]]]>><![CDATA[</ratingReason><distributor><![CDATA[Warner Bros. Inc.]]]]>><![CDATA[</distributor></title></SearchResults>]]></GetExportWithTitleYearResult>
      </GetExportWithTitleYearResponse>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

#4 Test zeep

Same function by zeep Save as test-function.py file name

from zeep import Client

# URL of the SOAP service
url = 'https://www.filmratings.com/Filmratings_CARA/WebCaraSearch/Service.asmx?wsdl'

client = Client(url)

# Call the GetExportWithTitleYear method
response = client.service.GetExportWithTitleYear(search='Superman', year='1978')

print(response) # Print the XML data

You should be install dependency before run it.

pip install zeep

Run it

python test-function.py

Result

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><SearchResults><title><name><![CDATA[Superman]]></name><year><![CDATA[1978]]></year><url><![CDATA[http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Superman]]></url><rating><![CDATA[PG]]></rating><ratingReason><![CDATA[]]></ratingReason><distributor><![CDATA[Warner Bros. Inc.]]></distributor></title></SearchResults>

#5 Data convert

Will print XML and extract key/value as JSON format data.

from zeep import Client
import xml.dom.minidom
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import json

# URL of the SOAP service
url = 'https://www.filmratings.com/Filmratings_CARA/WebCaraSearch/Service.asmx?wsdl'

client = Client(url)

# Call the GetExportWithTitleYear method
response = client.service.GetExportWithTitleYear(search='Superman', year='1978')

dom = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(response) # Parse the XML string

pretty_xml = dom.toprettyxml()

print(pretty_xml) # Print the XML data

root = ET.fromstring(response)

data = {}

# Loop through child elements of the root element
for child in root:
    for item in child:
        tag = item.tag
        text = item.text.strip() if item.text else ""
        data[tag] = text

json_data = json.dumps(data, indent=4)

print(json_data) # Print the JSON data

Result

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<SearchResults>
        <title>
                <name><![CDATA[Superman]]></name>
                <year><![CDATA[1978]]></year>
                <url><![CDATA[http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Superman]]></url>
                <rating><![CDATA[PG]]></rating>
                <ratingReason/>
                <distributor><![CDATA[Warner Bros. Inc.]]></distributor>
        </title>
</SearchResults>

{
    "name": "Superman",
    "year": "1978",
    "url": "http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Superman",
    "rating": "PG",
    "ratingReason": "",
    "distributor": "Warner Bros. Inc."
}