diff --git a/VectoCore/VectoCore/InputData/FileIO/XML/XMLInputDataFactory.cs b/VectoCore/VectoCore/InputData/FileIO/XML/XMLInputDataFactory.cs
index 0a144792ccb442b556c992178fb3ad4566311877..38d9469ef253b93a2d5cd940bf64d8cda004fe30 100644
--- a/VectoCore/VectoCore/InputData/FileIO/XML/XMLInputDataFactory.cs
+++ b/VectoCore/VectoCore/InputData/FileIO/XML/XMLInputDataFactory.cs
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ namespace TUGraz.VectoCore.InputData.FileIO.XML
 				throw new VectoException("empty xml document!");
 			}
 
-			var documentType = XMLHelper.GetDocumentType(xmlDoc.DocumentElement.LocalName);
+			var documentType = XMLHelper.GetDocumentTypeFromRootElement(xmlDoc.DocumentElement.LocalName);
 			if (documentType == null) {
 				throw new VectoException("unknown xml file! {0}", xmlDoc.DocumentElement.LocalName);
 			}
diff --git a/VectoCore/VectoCore/Utils/XMLHelper.cs b/VectoCore/VectoCore/Utils/XMLHelper.cs
index c1f32817cea422163b809fc09c54d71e8f1548b8..7cf8d867befbaf21c1364d816b183c5b90cc5c61 100644
--- a/VectoCore/VectoCore/Utils/XMLHelper.cs
+++ b/VectoCore/VectoCore/Utils/XMLHelper.cs
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ namespace TUGraz.VectoCore.Utils
 {
 	public static class XMLHelper
 	{
-		public static XmlDocumentType? GetDocumentType(string rootElement)
+		public static XmlDocumentType? GetDocumentTypeFromRootElement(string rootElement)
 		{
 			switch (rootElement) {
 				case "VectoInputDeclaration": return XmlDocumentType.DeclarationJobData;
@@ -60,17 +60,26 @@ namespace TUGraz.VectoCore.Utils
 			return null;
 		}
 
-		//internal static string GetSchemaVersion(XmlSchemaType type)
-		//{
-		//	return GetVersionFromNamespaceUri(type.QualifiedName.Namespace);
-		//}
+		public static XmlDocumentType? GetDocumentTypeFromFile(string filePath)
+		{
+			var xElement = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();
+			xElement.Load(filePath);
+			return XMLHelper.GetDocumentTypeFromRootElement(xElement?.DocumentElement?.LocalName);
+
+        }
+
+
+        //internal static string GetSchemaVersion(XmlSchemaType type)
+        //{
+        //	return GetVersionFromNamespaceUri(type.QualifiedName.Namespace);
+        //}
 
-		//public static string GetSchemaVersion(XmlElement node)
-		//{
-		//	return GetVersionFromNamespaceUri(node.NamespaceURI);
-		//}
+        //public static string GetSchemaVersion(XmlElement node)
+        //{
+        //	return GetVersionFromNamespaceUri(node.NamespaceURI);
+        //}
 
-		public static string GetVersionFromNamespaceUri(XNamespace namespaceUri)
+        public static string GetVersionFromNamespaceUri(this XNamespace namespaceUri)
 		{
 			const string versionPrefix = "v";
 			return namespaceUri.NamespaceName.Split(':').Last(x => x.StartsWith(versionPrefix))