To determine the operational status of a wireless communication device capable of executing server-side applications, a message is sent to the device requesting operational status of the device. The message may be may be triggered by a system administrator at a middleware server. The wireless communication device may receive the message, compose a response message indicative of the operational status of the device, and send the response message back to the middleware server. The messages may be extensible markup language (XML) messages. Composition of the response message may entail verifying that a textual operational status description forming part of the response message omits illegal XML characters, e.g., by passing the description through an XML formatter for removal of any illegal XML characters.