diff --git a/islandora.info b/islandora.info
index 732143b5..0142f1ce 100644
--- a/islandora.info
+++ b/islandora.info
@@ -22,4 +22,5 @@ files[] = tests/islandora_manage_permissions.test
 files[] = tests/datastream_versions.test
 files[] = tests/datastream_cache.test
 files[] = tests/derivatives.test
+files[] = tests/datastream_validator_tests.test
 php = 5.3
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index c4a0ae1a..d68c4b82 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,30 @@
-You can define your own configurations specific to your enviroment by copying
+OVERVIEW
+********
+
+You can define your own configurations specific to your environment by copying
 default.test_config.ini to test_config.ini, making your changes in the copied
 file. These test need write access to the system's $FEDORA_HOME/server/config
 directory as well as the filter-drupal.xml file.
+
+DATASTREAM VALIDATION TESTS
+***************************
+
+The datastream validator included in the Islandora testing suite is able to
+generate tests procedurally based on the files in the folder
+'fixtures/datastream_validator_files'. By default, this folder is empty.
+The unit tests for the validator pull the name of the file (before the
+extension) and use that to instantiate the correct ______DatastreamValidator
+class to test that file against (e.g. Image.jpg spins up an instance of the
+ImageDatastreamValidator class and checks the results).
+
+You can test against multiple different encodings of the same filetype by giving
+each file a different set of extensions, e.g. MP3.vbr.mp3 and MP3.sbr.mp3 both
+test against the MP3 datastream validator, even though both are encoded
+differently.
+
+For classes that require the third parameter (e.g. the TextDatastreamValidator),
+place an additional name.extension.ini file in the datastream_validator_files
+folder (e.g. the existing Text.txt in that folder is paired with Text.txt.ini).
+This .ini file should be structured like a PHP .ini file (e.g. according to the
+format used by http://http://ca1.php.net/parse_ini_file).The generated test will
+parse the .ini file as an array and pass it on to the third parameter.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/datastream_validators.inc b/tests/datastream_validators.inc
index b9063992..854f6db5 100644
--- a/tests/datastream_validators.inc
+++ b/tests/datastream_validators.inc
@@ -186,12 +186,20 @@ abstract class DatastreamValidator {
    * @param array $params
    *   An extra array of parameters the validator might need.
    */
-  public function __construct($object, $datastream, array $params = array()) {
+  public function __construct(IslandoraFedoraObject $object, $datastream, array $params = array()) {
     $this->object = $object;
     $this->datastream = $datastream;
     $this->params = $params;
-    $this->datastreamContent = $object[$datastream]->content;
-    $this->runValidators();
+    if ($object[$datastream]) {
+      $this->datastreamContent = $object[$datastream]->content;
+      $this->runValidators();
+    }
+    else {
+      drupal_set_message(t("Error grabbing content from datastream %datastream in object %id", 'error'), array(
+        '%datastream' => $datastream,
+        '%id' => $object->id,
+      ));
+    }
   }
 
   /**