Error Loading .xml file to WFS in QGIS

Question

In this link xml-link, there is a .xml file from a website (WFS) which contains vector data regarding water bodies for a specific area. I saved it as .xml by just right-clicking -> "Save as" and I tried to load it in QGIS as WFS (Open Data Source Manager (it is the icon below blank page on the top left of the window for QGIS 3.2 version) -> WFS -> Load -> Selecting the .xml file which I saved before. However, I have the error which you can see in the image.

I tried a workaround and it worked out but I do not know if I missed information. I right-clicked on the WFS from the Table of Contents -> New Connection -> I put a name (it does not matter) and the link: https://rijnland.enl-mcs.nl/arcgis/services/Legger_Oppervlaktewater_Vigerend/MapServer/WFSServer? from the .xml file in the URL position. ).

There are many links in the .xml file but I resorted to it by trial and error. It worked and I can see five layers. Are all these layers that the current WFS has to offer or did I miss any information?

Answer 1

There is no error here; the XML file is the GetCapabilities response of the service it is not a QGIS connections file. The latter would look like:

<!DOCTYPE connections>
<qgsWFSConnections version="1.0">
    <wfs name="rijnland.enl-mcs.nl" username="" referer="" password=""
        url="https://rijnland.enl-mcs.nl/arcgis/services/Legger_Oppervlaktewater_Vigerend/MapServer/WFSServer?" />
</qgsWFSConnections>

Which just points QGIS to the service endpoint:

https://rijnland.enl-mcs.nl/arcgis/services/Legger_Oppervlaktewater_Vigerend/MapServer/WFSServer?

QGIS just needs the endpoint, it will generate the GetCapabilites request and parse the response to show you available layers (feature types), the available formats, the extents, the available coordinate reference systems.

When you select a layer QGIS first does a DescribeFeatureType request to gather more information, then gets the data using a GetFeature request.