Network router management interface with selective rendering of output

A network router management interface offers two different presentation modes for viewing configuration and operational information encoded in extensible markup language output obtained from a network router. The network router management interface provides an application programming interface (API) that permits client applications to formulate configuration and operational requests according to an extensible markup language, such as XML. In response to the configuration and operational requests submitted by a client application, the router produces XML output. On a selective basis, the user may elect to view or archive the XML output in either a rendered or unrendered format. In this manner, clients such as network administrators, installation technicians and applications developers can view raw XML output on a selective basis for use in development and debugging.