The Paul Scherrer Institute is commissioning a 250 MeV injector test facility in preparation for the SwissFEL project. Its primary purpose is the demonstration of a high-brightness electron beam meeting the specifications of the SwissFEL main linac and undulator complex. At the same time it is advancing the development and validation of the accelerator components needed for the realization of the SwissFEL facility. We report the results of the first commissioning phase, which includes the gun section of the injector up to 7 MeV electron energy. Electrons are generated by a 2.6-cell laser-driven photocathode RF gun operating at 3 GHz followed by an emittance compensating focusing solenoid. The diagnostic system for this phase consists of a spectrometer dipole, a series of screens and beam position monitors and several charge measuring devices. Slit and pinhole masks can be inserted for phase-space scans and emittance measurements. The completion of the entire injector facility proceeds in three stages, culminating with the integration of the magnetic compression chicane expected for early 2011.