Reference

You can read the XML of a Page by exporting it and opening the archive with any tool that extracts ZIP files, or without exporting at all by adding the xpage=xml parameter to the URL of the Page.

Inside the archive the files follow the Page hierarchy, one directory per segment of the Page reference: the Page Sandbox.TestPage2 is stored as Sandbox/TestPage2.xml, and a Page Sandbox.Notes.Meeting would be stored as Sandbox/Notes/Meeting.xml. That layout is a convenience only: a parser ignores the path and reads the reference from the file itself.

The file below is the export of Sandbox Test Page 2, one of the test Pages of the Sandbox that every wiki ships, after an XClass with two properties, two XObjects of that XClass, a comment and one attachment in three versions were added to it. It therefore shows an attachment, a class and three object elements next to the elements every Page has, while the elements the tables below describe as written only when set are absent from it. The base64 content of the attachment is shortened, and an XML comment marks each of the three places where repeated or empty content was left out:

<?xml version='1.1' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<xwikidoc version="1.7" reference="Sandbox.TestPage2" locale="">
  <web>Sandbox</web>
  <name>TestPage2</name>
  <language/>
  <defaultLanguage>en</defaultLanguage>
  <translation>0</translation>
  <creator>XWiki.superadmin</creator>
  <creationDate>1785161867000</creationDate>
  <parent>Sandbox.WebHome</parent>
  <author>XWiki.Admin</author>
  <originalMetadataAuthor>XWiki.Admin</originalMetadataAuthor>
  <contentAuthor>XWiki.superadmin</contentAuthor>
  <date>1787324218000</date>
  <contentUpdateDate>1785161867000</contentUpdateDate>
  <version>16.1</version>
  <title>Sandbox Test Page 2</title>
  <comment/>
  <minorEdit>false</minorEdit>
  <syntaxId>xwiki/2.1</syntaxId>
  <hidden>false</hidden>
  <content>Click on **"Edit"** and modify the contents of this page, then click on **"Save &amp; View"** to see how they look like on your page!

= Here's some dummy text to show you what the page looks like =

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.</content>
  <attachment>
    <filename>XWikiLogo.png</filename>
    <mimetype>image/png</mimetype>
    <charset>UTF-8</charset>
    <author>XWiki.Admin</author>
    <date>1787319032000</date>
    <version>1.3</version>
    <comment/>
    <content>iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAIgAAACFCAYAAACAJLCMAAAFNUlEQVR4Xu2dsY3rRhRF1YDB3A…</content>
    <filesize>1390</filesize>
  </attachment>
  <class>
    <name>Sandbox.TestPage2</name>
    <customClass/>
    <customMapping/>
    <defaultViewSheet/>
    <defaultEditSheet/>
    <defaultWeb/>
    <nameField/>
    <validationScript/>
    <dueDate>
      <dateFormat>dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss</dateFormat>
      <disabled>0</disabled>
      <emptyIsToday>1</emptyIsToday>
      <name>dueDate</name>
      <number>2</number>
      <picker>1</picker>
      <prettyName>dueDate</prettyName>
      <size>20</size>
      <unmodifiable>0</unmodifiable>
      <classType>com.xpn.xwiki.objects.classes.DateClass</classType>
    </dueDate>
    <label>
      <disabled>0</disabled>
      <name>label</name>
      <number>1</number>
      <prettyName>label</prettyName>
      <size>30</size>
      <unmodifiable>0</unmodifiable>
      <classType>com.xpn.xwiki.objects.classes.StringClass</classType>
    </label>
  </class>
  <object>
    <name>Sandbox.TestPage2</name>
    <number>0</number>
    <className>Sandbox.TestPage2</className>
    <guid>86b1f0aa-ad8e-4f54-b692-13fffbd7ba90</guid>
    <class>
      <name>Sandbox.TestPage2</name>
      <customClass/>
      <customMapping/>
      <defaultViewSheet/>
      <defaultEditSheet/>
      <defaultWeb/>
      <nameField/>
      <validationScript/>
      <dueDate>
        <dateFormat>dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss</dateFormat>
        <disabled>0</disabled>
        <emptyIsToday>1</emptyIsToday>
        <name>dueDate</name>
        <number>2</number>
        <picker>1</picker>
        <prettyName>dueDate</prettyName>
        <size>20</size>
        <unmodifiable>0</unmodifiable>
        <classType>com.xpn.xwiki.objects.classes.DateClass</classType>
      </dueDate>
      <label>
        <disabled>0</disabled>
        <name>label</name>
        <number>1</number>
        <prettyName>label</prettyName>
        <size>30</size>
        <unmodifiable>0</unmodifiable>
        <classType>com.xpn.xwiki.objects.classes.StringClass</classType>
      </label>
    </class>
    <property type="Date">
      <dueDate>2026-01-15 00:00:00.0</dueDate>
    </property>
    <property type="String">
      <label>Test object</label>
    </property>
  </object>
  <object>
    <name>Sandbox.TestPage2</name>
    <number>1</number>
    <className>Sandbox.TestPage2</className>
    <guid>575fd5eb-58ba-428b-a93b-b7564d39e84d</guid>
    <class>
      <!-- the same copy of the Sandbox.TestPage2 XClass as above, elided here -->
    </class>
    <property type="Date">
      <dueDate>2026-02-01 00:00:00.0</dueDate>
    </property>
    <property type="String">
      <label>Second test object</label>
    </property>
  </object>
  <object>
    <name>Sandbox.TestPage2</name>
    <number>0</number>
    <className>XWiki.XWikiComments</className>
    <guid>d43c7554-1735-44ca-8b2f-e7390c259e21</guid>
    <class>
      <!-- the definition of XWiki.XWikiComments, elided here -->
    </class>
    <property type="LargeString">
      <author>XWiki.Admin</author>
    </property>
    <property type="LargeString">
      <comment>Handy for testing, thanks!</comment>
    </property>
    <property type="Date">
      <date>2026-08-21 12:00:00.0</date>
    </property>
    <property type="Integer">
      <replyto/>
    </property>
    <!-- the seven remaining properties of the comment, all empty -->
  </object>
</xwikidoc>

Format Versions

The version attribute of the root element names the version of the format, which changes whenever the set of elements does. Reading it tells you what an older archive can and cannot contain:

An archive with no version attribute is in format 1.0.

Root Element

Document Elements

Attachments

An attachment element carries the current file, and the versions that came before it when the Page was exported with its history. The attachment of the Page above, exported that way, has three versions: an image, the same image uploaded again, and the different image that replaced it.

  <attachment>
    <filename>XWikiLogo.png</filename>
    <mimetype>image/png</mimetype>
    <charset>UTF-8</charset>
    <author>XWiki.Admin</author>
    <date>1787319032000</date>
    <version>1.3</version>
    <comment/>
    <content>iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAIgAAACFCAYAAACAJLCMAAAFNUlEQVR4Xu2dsY3rRhRF1YDB3A…</content>
    <filesize>1390</filesize>
    <revisions>
      <revision>
        <author>XWiki.Admin</author>
        <date>1787319032000</date>
        <version>1.1</version>
        <comment/>
        <content>iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAFAAAAAyCAYAAADLLVz8AAAABmJLR0QA/wD/AP+gvaeTAAAACX…</content>
        <filesize>2018</filesize>
      </revision>
      <revision>
        <author>XWiki.Admin</author>
        <date>1787319032000</date>
        <version>1.2</version>
        <comment/>
        <contentAlias>1.1</contentAlias>
        <filesize>2018</filesize>
      </revision>
      <revision>
        <author>XWiki.Admin</author>
        <date>1787319032000</date>
        <version>1.3</version>
        <comment/>
        <contentAlias/>
        <filesize>1390</filesize>
      </revision>
    </revisions>
  </attachment>

XClass Definition

The class element is present when the Page defines an XClass. Its fixed elements come first, and every element after them is one property of the XClass.

XObjects

There is one object element per XObject the Page holds. The example above holds three: two XObjects of the XClass the Page itself defines, told apart by their number, and one comment, whose XClass is defined by another Page and is therefore copied into the archive.

FAQ

How are Page dates stored in the XML?

Every date is the number of milliseconds elapsed since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 (GMT). The value 1700000000000, for instance, is November 14, 2023, 22:13:20 (GMT).

How is a translation of a Page represented?

Each translation has its own XML file, named after the Page plus its locale, as in the Sandbox/TestPage2.de.xml entry holding the German translation of the Page above, because the wiki stores it as a separate Page.

How can I tell from the XML whether a Page is terminal?

The name element is WebHome for a non-terminal Page and the name of the Page itself for a terminal one, and the last segment of the reference attribute says the same.

Related

• XAR Export as a Backup Method.
• XWiki Classes.
• XWiki Objects.