Perform tasks based on URL content type

Question

I'm writing a program that performs certain actions based on the content of an URL. What's the best way to determine content type?

//pseudo code

WebClient c = new WebClient();
var data = c.DownloadData("http://mysite.com/download/2938923");
//var dataType = get data type

switch(dataType)
{
    case "pdf":
       //Run PDF
       break;
    case "doc":
       //Run Word
       break;
}

A more interesting question would have been how to eliminate that switch statement. — spender, Sep 07 '12 at 23:18
take a read of this particularly good answer on the subject: http://stackoverflow.com/a/126475/14357 — spender, Sep 07 '12 at 23:23

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 08 '12 at 01:29

1

Use the MIME type (returned as ContentType header with the request). This way is standards compliant.

string contentType = (c.ResponseHeaders[HttpResponseHeader.ContentType] ?? "").ToLower();
switch(contentType)
{
    case "application/pdf":
        // Run PDF
        break;
    case "text/plain":
        // Text file
        break;

    // etc ...
}

WebClient.ResponseHeaders property

edited Sep 08 '12 at 01:29

James

2,811
3
25
29

answered Sep 07 '12 at 23:16

McGarnagle

101,349
31
229
260

Is there a way to check the ContentType without downloading the data? – James Sep 08 '12 at 00:35
@James I think there might be, but I don't know how. I'd suggest opening another question for that ... – McGarnagle Sep 08 '12 at 00:41

Perform tasks based on URL content type

1 Answers1