I hate strings. I like strong typing. Its that simple. I guess that is why I have a slight aversion to web development. Too many string literals make me nervous. It's not paranoia if every string literal *is* out to get you, right?

Thankfully, the .NET framework comes to the rescue more often than not and I have often found myself using the System.Net.Mime namespace to alleviate my paranoia about string like "text/xml".

Or is it "text\xml"?  XD

In particular the MediaTypeNames class has a lovely declarative series of classes and string constants that define some of the most common mime types used today. Whilst not comprehensive by any stretch, it covers the standard cases. For example if you intend to use the "text/xml" type, then the syntax is as follows:

 

 

using System.Net.Mime;
.
.
.
string textXml = MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml; //look Mum, no strings!

Of course this is just a bit of a buck pass to the framework; it all boils down to a string literal eventually, but it lets me sleep better at night nonetheless.