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Windows Logo Validation

Generated Windows Installer packages should be validated before being released. This involves running the package against 1 or more validation suites. The Validation suites indicate if packages are correctly formed and successful passing of these tests is one requirement for a product to obtain Windows Logo certification. Inconsistent or invalid data can be determined by checking the results of running the tests. Editing projects from within the MSIStudio IDE will generally ensure a package passes all validation tests. However there is enough flexibility given to the user that errors may occur in the packages. This can occur if custom data is entered into the database tables.

Validation can be selected from the Build menu as shown.

There are a number of validation suites, which one to use depends on the type of project and any Windows Logo requirements. As validation only runs against Windows Installer database files (.msi/.msm), it must be performed against a release that doesn't use a bootstrapper setup.exe. Projects that build a bootstrapper should have an additional release configuration that builds only the .MSI database file so that validation can be run.

Below is a brief description of the available validation suites.

• Windows 2000 Logo Program Suite
  This is the basic validation suite for Windows Logo certification.
• Windows XP Logo Program Suite
  This contains additional tests for Windows XP Logo certification.
• Full MSI Validation Suite
  This is a complete set of tests, more than are required for Logo certification.
• Merge Module Validation Suite
  Merge modules should be validated against this test suite.

Validation can produce both errors and warnings. Errors are problems that must be fixed for a setup to pass Logo validation and usually indicate data inconsistencies within the package. MSIStudio tries as much as possible to prevent users from create packages that produce errors although it may happen from time to time, especially if the user is creating custom tables or table entries. Warnings are more informational and should be noted. Though usually less problematic than errors, it is good practice to clear up any warnings before releasing the installation package.

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