Build from Source

Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
Windows 10/11	The application is WPF and builds on Windows
.NET 10 SDK	Pinned by `global.json`
Git	To clone the repository

The repository contains the standalone 7-Zip 26.03 fallback executables (7za.exe, 7za_arm64.exe), so no extra download is required for a build.

Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/purelogiccode/RomValidator.git
cd RomValidator
dotnet build CSharp_RomValidator.sln --configuration Release

Run the tests

dotnet test CSharp_RomValidator.sln --configuration Release --nologo

The test project (RomValidator.Tests) uses xUnit and coverlet. Tests cover models, services, hash calculation, archive handling, HTTP-based services (with a fake handler) and file-system helpers.

Run the application

dotnet run --project RomValidator/RomValidator.csproj

Publish

The release workflow publishes framework-dependent builds for both supported architectures:

dotnet publish RomValidator/RomValidator.csproj `
  --configuration Release `
  --runtime win-x64 `
  --output publish/win-x64 `
  --no-self-contained

dotnet publish RomValidator/RomValidator.csproj `
  --configuration Release `
  --runtime win-arm64 `
  --output publish/win-arm64 `
  --no-self-contained

To produce a self-contained build instead (no .NET runtime required on the target machine), add --self-contained true and optionally -p:PublishSingleFile=false.

The publish output includes:

RomValidator.exe and the WPF dependencies,
SharpCompress.dll,
7za.exe and 7za_arm64.exe,
RomValidator.xml (XML documentation).

Project layout

CSharp_RomValidator.sln
├── RomValidator/               WPF application
│   ├── Interfaces/             service abstractions
│   ├── Models/                 data models (No-Intro XML, bug report, GitHub release)
│   ├── Pages/                  Validate ROMs and Generate DAT pages
│   ├── Services/               hashing, archives, logging, reporting, paths
│   ├── MainWindow.xaml         shell with header, frame and status bar
│   └── RomValidator.csproj
├── RomValidator.Tests/         xUnit test project
└── docs/                       this documentation site

Code style

The build runs the Meziantou and Roslynator analyzers and fails on warnings. Keep the build at zero warnings and add tests for behavior changes. XML documentation is required for public members (GenerateDocumentationFile is enabled).