Is it required to specify the value type in a CAML query?

Question

I was wondering if CAML query Value Types are strongly typed or not. It would save me some time if I didn't have to specify "text" or "date" every time I made a query.

Here is the code I am using, its part of a helper method that allows me to grab an item based on a certain field and that field's value.

String camlQuery = "<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name ='" + internalFieldName + "' /><Value Type='" + fieldType + "'>" + fieldValue + "</Value></Eq></Where>

I would like to get rid of the if possible.

Answer 1

You don't necessarily do but it is highly recomanded to do so when you know them (particularly for Lookup, User, Data) while filtering. Pasted more examples below for your reference.

<View><ViewFields><FieldRef Name='Title'/><ProjectProperty Name='Title' Nullable='TRUE'/><ProjectProperty Name='Url' Nullable='TRUE'/><FieldRef Name='FileRef'/><FieldRef Name='EncodedAbsUrl' Nullable='TRUE'/><FieldRef Name='Comments'/><FieldRef Name='ID'/><FieldRef Name='Modified'/><FieldRef Name='Created' /><FieldRef Name='PublishingRollupImage'/><FieldRef Name='Author'/><FieldRef Name='Editor'/><FieldRef Name='PublishingContact' Nullable='TRUE'/></ViewFields><Query><Where><And><Or><BeginsWith><FieldRef Name='ContentTypeId'/><Value Type='Text'>0x010100C568DB52D9D0A14D9B2FDCC96666E9F2007948130EC3DB064584E219954237AF39001bb192640f8748d78db60217bd43598900f8c9db8d7f634c95bfd7ee95032f71c2</Value></BeginsWith><BeginsWith><FieldRef Name='ContentTypeId'/><Value Type='Text'>0x010100C568DB52D9D0A14D9B2FDCC96666E9F2007948130EC3DB064584E219954237AF39001bb192640f8748d78db60217bd435989004896ce0317db45a9ae9e840754b48672</Value></BeginsWith></Or><Eq><FieldRef Name='_ModerationStatus'/><Value Type='ModStat'>Approved</Value></Eq></And></Where><OrderBy><FieldRef Name='Modified' Ascending='FALSE' /></OrderBy></Query><RowLimit>10</RowLimit></View>