java - Compare two XML strings ignoring element order

Question

Suppose I have two xml strings

<test>
  <elem>a</elem>
  <elem>b</elem>
</test>

<test>
  <elem>b</elem>
  <elem>a</elem>
</test>

How to write a test that compares those two strings and ignores the element order?

I want the test to be as short as possible, no place for 10-line XML parsing etc. I'm looking for a simple assertion or something similar.

I have this (which doesn't work)

   Diff diff = XMLUnit.compareXML(expectedString, actualString);   
   XMLAssert.assertXMLEqual("meh", diff, true);

Answer 1

For xmlunit 2.0 (I was looking for this) it is now done, by using DefaultNodeMatcher

Diff diff = Diffbuilder.compare(Input.fromFile(control))
   .withTest(Input.fromFile(test))
   .withNodeMatcher(new DefaultNodeMatcher(ElementSelectors.byNameAndText))
   .build()

Hope this helps this helps other people googling...