Two application properties are available that are used to determine whether the EvidenceFlow stack XML that is sent and retrieved from the application database is validated against its schema. The stack XML is a representation of the EvidenceFlow stack functionality and its contents in XML format. It includes the following information: the stack name, version, as well as the evidence types that are contained within the stack. The purpose of stack XML validation is to ensure that the XML stack that is retrieved by the system is in a format that is supported and understood by the EvidenceFlow view. If EvidenceFlow stack XML validation fails, the system automatically alerts the user to this effect via an error message.