Troubleshooting
Problem
You are running DFHWS2LS (the CICS web services assistant) and you receive error message: DFHPI9523E An unexpected error occurred whilst processing file "/u/usr/test.wsdl". The problem is: "WSDLException: faultCode=PARSER_ERROR: Problem parsing '- WSDL Document -'.: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog.".
Symptom
DFHPI9523E An unexpected error occurred whilst processing file "/u/usr/test.wsdl". The problem is: "WSDLException: faultCode=PARSER_ERROR: Problem parsing '- WSDL Document -'.: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog.".
Cause
Characters, including a space, are located before the first XML tag in the WSDL such as:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="EBCDIC-CP-US"?>
Diagnosing The Problem
The DFHWS2LS LOGFILE has the following error details:
Error Details:
--------------
com.ibm.cics.wsdl.CICSWSDLException: DFHPI9523E An unexpected error occurred whilst processing file "/u/usr/test.wsdl". The problem is: "WSDLException: faultCode=PARSER_ERROR: Problem parsing '- WSDL Document -'.: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog.".
Caused by: javax.wsdl.WSDLException: WSDLException: faultCode=PARSER_ERROR: Problem parsing '- WSDL Document -'.: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog.
Caused by: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog.
If run the WSDL through an 
Eclipse validation tool (like Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers), it returns the following error message:
The processing instructions target matching {xX}{mM}{lL} is not allowed.
Resolving The Problem
Remove any characters, including spaces, from the start of the WSDL so there is nothing before the "<?xml".
Product Synonym
CICS/TS CICS TS CICS Transaction Server
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Document Information
Modified date:
05 January 2026
UID
swg21592668