page.title=Contacts Provider
@jd:body
<div id="qv-wrapper">
<div id="qv">
<h2>Quickview</h2>
<ul>
<li>Android's repository of information about people.</li>
<li>
Syncs with the web.
</li>
<li>
Integrates social stream data.
</li>
</ul>
<h2>In this document</h2>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="#InformationTypes">Contacts Provider Organization</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#RawContactBasics">Raw contacts</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#DataBasics">Data</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#ContactBasics">Contacts</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#Sources">Data From Sync Adapters</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#Permissions">Required Permissions</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#UserProfile">The User Profile</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#ContactsProviderMetadata">Contacts Provider Metadata</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#Access">Contacts Provider Access</a>
<li>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#SyncAdapters">Contacts Provider Sync Adapters</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#SocialStream">Social Stream Data</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#AdditionalFeatures">Additional Contacts Provider Features</a>
</li>
</ol>
<h2>Key classes</h2>
<ol>
<li>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts}</li>
<li>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts}</li>
<li>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data}</li>
<li>android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems</li>
</ol>
<h2>Related Samples</h2>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/ContactManager/index.html">
Contact Manager
</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/index.html">
Sample Sync Adapter</a>
</li>
</ol>
<h2>See Also</h2>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/providers/content-provider-basics.html">
Content Provider Basics
</a>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<p>
The Contacts Provider is a powerful and flexible Android component that manages the
device's central repository of data about people. The Contacts Provider is the source of data
you see in the device's contacts application, and you can also access its data in your own
application and transfer data between the device and online services. The provider accommodates
a wide range of data sources and tries to manage as much data as possible for each person, with
the result that its organization is complex. Because of this, the provider's API includes an
extensive set of contract classes and interfaces that facilitate both data retrieval and
modification.
</p>
<p>
This guide describes the following:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
The basic provider structure.
</li>
<li>
How to retrieve data from the provider.
</li>
<li>
How to modify data in the provider.
</li>
<li>
How to write a sync adapter for synchronizing data from your server to the
Contacts Provider.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
This guide assumes that you know the basics of Android content providers. To learn more
about Android content providers, read the
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/providers/content-provider-basics.html">
Content Provider Basics</a> guide. The
<a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/index.html">Sample Sync Adapter</a>
sample app is an example of using a sync adapter to transfer data between the Contacts
Provider and a sample application hosted by Google Web Services.
</p>
<h2 id="InformationTypes">Contacts Provider Organization</h2>
<p>
The Contacts Provider is an Android content provider component. It maintains three types of
data about a person, each of which corresponds to a table offered by the provider, as
illustrated in figure 1:
</p>
<img src="{@docRoot}images/providers/contacts_structure.png" alt=""
height="364" id="figure1" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 1.</strong> Contacts Provider table structure.
</p>
<p>
The three tables are commonly referred to by the names of their contract classes. The classes
define constants for content URIs, column names, and column values used by the tables:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts} table
</dt>
<dd>
Rows representing different people, based on aggregations of raw contact rows.
</dd>
<dt>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} table
</dt>
<dd>
Rows containing a summary of a person's data, specific to a user account and type.
</dd>
<dt>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table
</dt>
<dd>
Rows containing the details for raw contact, such as email addresses or phone numbers.
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
The other tables represented by contract classes in {@link android.provider.ContactsContract}
are auxiliary tables that the Contacts Provider uses to manage its operations or support
specific functions in the device's contacts or telephony applications.
</p>
<h2 id="RawContactBasics">Raw contacts</h2>
<p>
A raw contact represents a person's data coming from a single account type and account
name. Because the Contacts Provider allows more than one online service as the source of
data for a person, the Contacts Provider allows multiple raw contacts for the same person.
Multiple raw contacts also allow a user to combine a person's data from more than one account
from the same account type.
</p>
<p>
Most of the data for a raw contact isn't stored in the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} table. Instead, it's stored in one or more
rows in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table. Each data row has a column
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#RAW_CONTACT_ID Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID} that
contains the {@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID RawContacts._ID} value of its
parent {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} row.
</p>
<h3 id="RawContactsColumns">Important raw contact columns</h3>
<p>
The important columns in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} table are
listed in table 1. Please read the notes that follow after the table:
</p>
<p class="table-caption" id="table1">
<strong>Table 1.</strong> Important raw contact columns.
</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th scope="col">Column name</th>
<th scope="col">Use</th>
<th scope="col">Notes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#ACCOUNT_NAME}
</td>
<td>
The account name for the account type that's the source of this raw contact.
For example, the account name of a Google account is one of the device owner's Gmail
addresses. See the next entry for
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#ACCOUNT_TYPE} for more
information.
</td>
<td>
The format of this name is specific to its account type. It is not
necessarily an email address.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#ACCOUNT_TYPE}
</td>
<td>
The account type that's the source of this raw contact. For example, the account
type of a Google account is <code>com.google</code>. Always qualify your account type
with a domain identifier for a domain you own or control. This will ensure that your
account type is unique.
</td>
<td>
An account type that offers contacts data usually has an associated sync adapter that
synchronizes with the Contacts Provider.
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContactsColumns#DELETED}
</td>
<td>
The "deleted" flag for a raw contact.
</td>
<td>
This flag allows the Contacts Provider to maintain the row internally until sync
adapters are able to delete the row from their servers and then finally delete the row
from the repository.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h4>Notes</h4>
<p>
The following are important notes about the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} table:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
A raw contact's name is not stored in its row in
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts}. Instead, it's stored in
the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table, in a
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName} row. A raw contact
has only one row of this type in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Caution:</strong> To use your own account data in a raw contact row, it must
first be registered with the {@link android.accounts.AccountManager}. To do this, prompt
users to add the account type and their account name to the list of accounts. If you don't
do this, the Contacts Provider will automatically delete your raw contact row.
<p>
For example, if you want your app to maintain contacts data for your web-based service
with the domain {@code com.example.dataservice}, and the user's account for your service
is {@code becky.sharp@dataservice.example.com}, the user must first add the account
"type" ({@code com.example.dataservice}) and account "name"
({@code becky.smart@dataservice.example.com}) before your app can add raw contact rows.
You can explain this requirement to the user in documentation, or you can prompt the
user to add the type and name, or both. Account types and account names
are described in more detail in the next section.
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="RawContactsExample">Sources of raw contacts data</h3>
<p>
To understand how raw contacts work, consider the user "Emily Dickinson" who has the following
three user accounts defined on her device:
</p>
<ul>
<li><code>emily.dickinson@gmail.com</code></li>
<li><code>emilyd@gmail.com</code></li>
<li>Twitter account "belle_of_amherst"</li>
</ul>
<p>
This user has enabled <em>Sync Contacts</em> for all three of these accounts in the
<em>Accounts</em> settings.
</p>
<p>
Suppose Emily Dickinson opens a browser window, logs into Gmail as
<code>emily.dickinson@gmail.com</code>, opens
Contacts, and adds "Thomas Higginson". Later on, she logs into Gmail as
<code>emilyd@gmail.com</code> and sends an email to "Thomas Higginson", which automatically
adds him as a contact. She also follows "colonel_tom" (Thomas Higginson's Twitter ID) on
Twitter.
</p>
<p>
The Contacts Provider creates three raw contacts as a result of this work:
</p>
<ol>
<li>
A raw contact for "Thomas Higginson" associated with <code>emily.dickinson@gmail.com</code>.
The user account type is Google.
</li>
<li>
A second raw contact for "Thomas Higginson" associated with <code>emilyd@gmail.com</code>.
The user account type is also Google. There is a second raw contact even
though the name is identical to a previous name, because the person was added for a
different user account.
</li>
<li>
A third raw contact for "Thomas Higginson" associated with "belle_of_amherst". The user
account type is Twitter.
</li>
</ol>
<h2 id="DataBasics">Data</h2>
<p>
As noted previously, the data for a raw contact is stored in a
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} row that is linked to the raw contact's
<code>_ID</code> value. This allows a single raw contact to have multiple instances of the same
type of data such as email addresses or phone numbers. For example, if
"Thomas Higginson" for {@code emilyd@gmail.com} (the raw contact row for Thomas Higginson
associated with the Google account <code>emilyd@gmail.com</code>) has a home email address of
<code>thigg@gmail.com</code> and a work email address of
<code>thomas.higginson@gmail.com</code>, the Contacts Provider stores the two email address
rows and links them both to the raw contact.
</p>
<p>
Notice that different types of data are stored in this single table. Display name,
phone number, email, postal address, photo, and website detail rows are all found in the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table. To help manage this, the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table has some columns with descriptive names,
and others with generic names. The contents of a descriptive-name column have the same meaning
regardless of the type of data in the row, while the contents of a generic-name column have
different meanings depending on the type of data.
</p>
<h3 id="DescriptiveColumns">Descriptive column names</h3>
<p>
Some examples of descriptive column names are:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data#RAW_CONTACT_ID}
</dt>
<dd>
The value of the <code>_ID</code> column of the raw contact for this data.
</dd>
<dt>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data#MIMETYPE}
</dt>
<dd>
The type of data stored in this row, expressed as a custom MIME type. The Contacts Provider
uses the MIME types defined in the subclasses of
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds}. These MIME types are open source,
and can be used by any application or sync adapter that works with the Contacts Provider.
</dd>
<dt>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#IS_PRIMARY}
</dt>
<dd>
If this type of data row can occur more than once for a raw contact, the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#IS_PRIMARY} column flags
the data row that contains the primary data for the type. For example, if
the user long-presses a phone number for a contact and selects <strong>Set default</strong>,
then the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} row containing that number
has its {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#IS_PRIMARY} column set to a
non-zero value.
</dd>
</dl>
<h3 id="GenericColumns">Generic column names</h3>
<p>
There are 15 generic columns named <code>DATA1</code> through
<code>DATA15</code> that are generally available and an additional four generic
columns <code>SYNC1</code> through <code>SYNC4</code> that should only be used by sync
adapters. The generic column name constants always work, regardless of the type of
data the row contains.
</p>
<p>
The <code>DATA1</code> column is indexed. The Contacts Provider always uses this column for
the data that the provider expects will be the most frequent target of a query. For example,
in an email row, this column contains the actual email address.
</p>
<p>
By convention, the column <code>DATA15</code> is reserved for storing Binary Large Object
(BLOB) data such as photo thumbnails.
</p>
<h3 id="TypeSpecificNames">Type-specific column names</h3>
<p>
To facilitate working with the columns for a particular type of row, the Contacts Provider
also provides type-specific column name constants, defined in subclasses of
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds}. The constants simply give a
different constant name to the same column name, which helps you access data in a row of a
particular type.
</p>
<p>
For example, the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email} class defines
type-specific column name constants for a {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} row
that has the MIME type
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email#CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE
Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE}. The class contains the constant
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email#ADDRESS} for the email address
column. The actual value of
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email#ADDRESS} is "data1", which is
the same as the column's generic name.
</p>
<p class="caution">
<strong>Caution:</strong> Don't add your own custom data to the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table using a row that has one of the
provider's pre-defined MIME types. If you do, you may lose the data or cause the provider to
malfunction. For example, you should not add a row with the MIME type
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email#CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE
Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE} that contains a user name instead of an email address in the
column <code>DATA1</code>. If you use your own custom MIME type for the row, then you are free
to define your own type-specific column names and use the columns however you wish.
</p>
<p>
Figure 2 shows how descriptive columns and data columns appear in a
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} row, and how type-specific column names "overlay"
the generic column names
</p>
<img src="{@docRoot}images/providers/data_columns.png"
alt="How type-specific column names map to generic column names"
height="311" id="figure2" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 2.</strong> Type-specific column names and generic column names.
</p>
<h3 id="ColumnMaps">Type-specific column name classes</h3>
<p>
Table 2 lists the most commonly-used type-specific column name classes:
</p>
<p class="table-caption" id="table2">
<strong>Table 2.</strong> Type-specific column name classes</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th scope="col">Mapping class</th>
<th scope="col">Type of data</th>
<th scope="col">Notes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName}</td>
<td>The name data for the raw contact associated with this data row.</td>
<td>A raw contact has only one of these rows.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Photo}</td>
<td>The main photo for the raw contact associated with this data row.</td>
<td>A raw contact has only one of these rows.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email}</td>
<td>An email address for the raw contact associated with this data row.</td>
<td>A raw contact can have multiple email addresses.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredPostal}</td>
<td>A postal address for the raw contact associated with this data row.</td>
<td>A raw contact can have multiple postal addresses.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.GroupMembership}</td>
<td>An identifier that links the raw contact to one of the groups in the Contacts Provider.</td>
<td>
Groups are an optional feature of an account type and account name. They're described in
more detail in the section <a href="#Groups">Contact groups</a>.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h3 id="ContactBasics">Contacts</h3>
<p>
The Contacts Provider combines the raw contact rows across all account types and account names
to form a <strong>contact</strong>. This facilitates displaying and modifying all the data a
user has collected for a person. The Contacts Provider manages the creation of new contact
rows, and the aggregation of raw contacts with an existing contact row. Neither applications nor
sync adapters are allowed to add contacts, and some columns in a contact row are read-only.
</p>
<p class="note">
<strong>Note:</strong> If you try to add a contact to the Contacts Provider with an
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#insert(Uri,ContentValues) insert()}, you'll get
an {@link java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException} exception. If you try to update a column
that's listed as "read-only," the update is ignored.
</p>
<p>
The Contacts Provider creates a new contact in response to the addition of a new raw contact
that doesn't match any existing contacts. The provider also does this if an existing raw
contact's data changes in such a way that it no longer matches the contact to which it was
previously attached. If an application or sync adapter creates a new raw contact that
<em>does</em> match an existing contact, the new raw contact is aggregated to the existing
contact.
</p>
<p>
The Contacts Provider links a contact row to its raw contact rows with the contact row's
<code>_ID</code> column in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts Contacts}
table. The <code>CONTACT_ID</code> column of the raw contacts table
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} contains <code>_ID</code> values for
the contacts row associated with each raw contacts row.
</p>
<p>
The {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts} table also has the column
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactsColumns#LOOKUP_KEY} that is a
"permanent" link to the contact row. Because the Contacts Provider maintains contacts
automatically, it may change a contact row's {@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID} value
in response to an aggregation or sync. Even If this happens, the content URI
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts#CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI} combined with
contact's {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactsColumns#LOOKUP_KEY} will still
point to the contact row, so you can use
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactsColumns#LOOKUP_KEY}
to maintain links to "favorite" contacts, and so forth. This column has its own format that is
unrelated to the format of the {@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID} column.
</p>
<p>
Figure 3 shows how the three main tables relate to each other.
</p>
<img src="{@docRoot}images/providers/contacts_tables.png" alt="Contacts provider main tables"
height="514" id="figure4" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 3.</strong> Contacts, Raw Contacts, and Details table relationships.
</p>
<h2 id="Sources">Data From Sync Adapters</h2>
<p>
Users enter contacts data directly into the device, but data also flows into the Contacts
Provider from web services via <strong>sync adapters</strong>, which automate
the transfer of data between the device and services. Sync adapters run in the background
under the control of the system, and they call {@link android.content.ContentResolver} methods
to manage data.
</p>
<p>
In Android, the web service that a sync adapter works with is identified by an account type.
Each sync adapter works with one account type, but it can support multiple account names for
that type. Account types and account names are described briefly in the section
<a href="#RawContactsExample">Sources of raw contacts data</a>. The following definitions offer
more detail, and describe how account type and name relate to sync adapters and services.
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
Account type
</dt>
<dd>
Identifies a service in which the user has stored data. Most of the time, the user has to
authenticate with the service. For example, Google Contacts is an account type, identified
by the code <code>google.com</code>. This value corresponds to the account type used by
{@link android.accounts.AccountManager}.
</dd>
<dt>
Account name
</dt>
<dd>
Identifies a particular account or login for an account type. Google Contacts accounts
are the same as Google accounts, which have an email address as an account name.
Other services may use a single-word username or numeric id.
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
Account types don't have to be unique. A user can configure multiple Google Contacts accounts
and download their data to the Contacts Provider; this may happen if the user has one set of
personal contacts for a personal account name, and another set for work. Account names are
usually unique. Together, they identify a specific data flow between the Contacts Provider and
an external service.
</p>
<p>
If you want to transfer your service's data to the Contacts Provider, you need to write your
own sync adapter. This is described in more detail in the section
<a href="#SyncAdapters">Contacts Provider Sync Adapters</a>.
</p>
<p>
Figure 4 shows how the Contacts Provider fits into the flow of data
about people. In the box marked "sync adapters," each adapter is labeled by its account type.
</p>
<img src="{@docRoot}images/providers/ContactsDataFlow.png" alt="Flow of data about people"
height="252" id="figure5" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 4.</strong> The Contacts Provider flow of data.
</p>
<h2 id="Permissions">Required Permissions</h2>
<p>
Applications that want to access the Contacts Provider must request the following
permissions:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>Read access to one or more tables</dt>
<dd>
{@link android.Manifest.permission#READ_CONTACTS}, specified in
<code>AndroidManifest.xml</code> with the
<code><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-permission-element.html">
<uses-permission></a></code> element as
<code><uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS"></code>.
</dd>
<dt>Write access to one or more tables</dt>
<dd>
{@link android.Manifest.permission#WRITE_CONTACTS}, specified in
<code>AndroidManifest.xml</code> with the
<code><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-permission-element.html">
<uses-permission></a></code> element as
<code><uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS"></code>.
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
These permissions do not extend to the user profile data. The user profile and its
required permissions are discussed in the following section,
<a href="#UserProfile">The User Profile</a>.
</p>
<p>
Remember that the user's contacts data is personal and sensitive. Users are concerned about
their privacy, so they don't want applications collecting data about them or their contacts.
If it's not obvious why you need permission to access their contacts data, they may give
your application low ratings or simply refuse to install it.
</p>
<h2 id="UserProfile">The User Profile</h2>
<p>
The {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts} table has a single row containing
profile data for the device's user. This data describes the device's <code>user</code> rather
than one of the user's contacts. The profile contacts row is linked to a raw
contacts row for each system that uses a profile.
Each profile raw contact row can have multiple data rows. Constants for accessing the user
profile are available in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Profile} class.
</p>
<p>
Access to the user profile requires special permissions. In addition to the
{@link android.Manifest.permission#READ_CONTACTS} and
{@link android.Manifest.permission#WRITE_CONTACTS} permissions needed to read and write, access
to the user profile requires the android.Manifest.permission#READ_PROFILE and
android.Manifest.permission#WRITE_PROFILE permissions for read and write access,
respectively.
</p>
<p>
Remember that you should consider a user's profile to be sensitive. The permission
android.Manifest.permission#READ_PROFILE allows you to access the device user's
personally-identifying data. Make sure to tell the user why
you need user profile access permissions in the description of your application.
</p>
<p>
To retrieve the contact row that contains the user's profile,
call {@link android.content.ContentResolver#query(Uri,String[], String, String[], String)
ContentResolver.query()}. Set the content URI to
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Profile#CONTENT_URI} and don't provide any
selection criteria. You can also use this content URI as the base URI for retrieving raw
contacts or data for the profile. For example, this snippet retrieves data for the profile:
</p>
<pre>
// Sets the columns to retrieve for the user profile
mProjection = new String[]
{
Profile._ID,
Profile.DISPLAY_NAME_PRIMARY,
Profile.LOOKUP_KEY,
Profile.PHOTO_THUMBNAIL_URI
};
// Retrieves the profile from the Contacts Provider
mProfileCursor =
getContentResolver().query(
Profile.CONTENT_URI,
mProjection ,
null,
null,
null);
</pre>
<p class="note">
<strong>Note:</strong> If you retrieve multiple contact rows, and you want to determine if one of them
is the user profile, test the row's
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactsColumns#IS_USER_PROFILE} column. This column
is set to "1" if the contact is the user profile.
</p>
<h2 id="ContactsProviderMetadata">Contacts Provider Metadata</h2>
<p>
The Contacts Provider manages data that keeps track of the state of contacts data in the
repository. This metadata about the repository is stored in various places, including the
Raw Contacts, Data, and Contacts table rows, the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Settings} table, and the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncState} table. The following table shows the
effect of each of these pieces of metadata:
</p>
<p class="table-caption" id="table3">
<strong>Table 3.</strong> Metadata in the Contacts Provider</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th scope="col">Table</th>
<th scope="col">Column</th>
<th scope="col">Values</th>
<th scope="col">Meaning</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2">{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts}</td>
<td rowspan="2">{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#DIRTY}</td>
<td>"0" - not changed since the last sync.</td>
<td rowspan="2">
Marks raw contacts that were changed on the device and have to be synced back to the
server. The value is set automatically by the Contacts Provider when Android
applications update a row.
<p>
Sync adapters that modify the raw contact or data tables should always append the
string {@link android.provider.ContactsContract#CALLER_IS_SYNCADAPTER} to the
content URI they use. This prevents the provider from marking rows as dirty.
Otherwise, sync adapter modifications appear to be local modifications and are
sent to the server, even though the server was the source of the modification.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>"1" - changed since last sync, needs to be synced back to the server.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts}</td>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#VERSION}</td>
<td>The version number of this row.</td>
<td>
The Contacts Provider automatically increments this value whenever the row or
its related data changes.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data}</td>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#DATA_VERSION}</td>
<td>The version number of this row.</td>
<td>
The Contacts Provider automatically increments this value whenever the data row
is changed.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts}</td>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#SOURCE_ID}</td>
<td>
A string value that uniquely identifies this raw contact to the account in
which it was created.
</td>
<td>
When a sync adapter creates a new raw contact, this column should be set to the
server's unique ID for the raw contact. When an Android application creates a new
raw contact, the application should leave this column empty. This signals the sync
adapter that it should create a new raw contact on the server, and get a
value for the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#SOURCE_ID}.
<p>
In particular, the source id must be <strong>unique</strong> for each account
type and should be stable across syncs:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Unique: Each raw contact for an account must have its own source id. If you
don't enforce this, you'll cause problems in the contacts application.
Notice that two raw contacts for the same account <em>type</em> may have
the same source id. For example, the raw contact "Thomas Higginson" for the
account {@code emily.dickinson@gmail.com} is allowed to have the same source
id as the raw contact "Thomas Higginson" for the account
{@code emilyd@gmail.com}.
</li>
<li>
Stable: Source ids are a permanent part of the online service's data for
the raw contact. For example, if the user clears Contacts Storage from the
Apps settings and re-syncs, the restored raw contacts should have the same
source ids as before. If you don't enforce this, shortcuts will stop
working.
</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2">{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Groups}</td>
<td rowspan="2">{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.GroupsColumns#GROUP_VISIBLE}</td>
<td>"0" - Contacts in this group should not be visible in Android application UIs.</td>
<td>
This column is for compatibility with servers that allow a user to hide contacts in
certain groups.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>"1" - Contacts in this group are allowed to be visible in application UIs.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2">{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Settings}</td>
<td rowspan="2">
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SettingsColumns#UNGROUPED_VISIBLE}</td>
<td>
"0" - For this account and account type, contacts that don't belong to a group are
invisible to Android application UIs.
</td>
<td rowspan="2">
By default, contacts are invisible if none of their raw contacts belongs to a group
(Group membership for a raw contact is indicated by one or more
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.GroupMembership} rows
in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table).
By setting this flag in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Settings} table row
for an account type and account, you can force contacts without groups to be visible.
One use of this flag is to show contacts from servers that don't use groups.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
"1" - For this account and account type, contacts that don't belong to a group are
visible to application UIs.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncState}</td>
<td>(all)</td>
<td>
Use this table to store metadata for your sync adapter.
</td>
<td>
With this table you can store sync state and other sync-related data persistently on
the device.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h2 id="Access">Contacts Provider Access</h2>
<p>
This section describes guidelines for accessing data from the Contacts Provider, focusing on
the following:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Entity queries.
</li>
<li>
Batch modification.
</li>
<li>
Retrieval and modification with intents.
</li>
<li>
Data integrity.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Making modifications from a sync adapter is also covered in more detail in the section
<a href="#SyncAdapters">Contacts Provider Sync Adapters</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="Entities">Querying entities</h3>
<p>
Because the Contacts Provider tables are organized in a hierarchy, it's often useful to
retrieve a row and all of the "child" rows that are linked to it. For example, to display
all the information for a person, you may want to retrieve all the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} rows for a single
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts} row, or all the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email} rows for a single
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} row. To facilitate this, the Contacts
Provider offers <strong>entity</strong> constructs, which act like database joins between
tables.
</p>
<p>
An entity is like a table composed of selected columns from a parent table and its child table.
When you query an entity, you supply a projection and search criteria based on the columns
available from the entity. The result is a {@link android.database.Cursor} that contains
contains one row for each child table row that was retrieved. For example, if you query
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity} for a contact name
and all the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email} rows for all the
raw contacts for that name, you get back a {@link android.database.Cursor} containing one row
for each {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email} row.
</p>
<p>
Entities simplify queries. Using an entity, you can retrieve all of the contacts data for a
contact or raw contact at once, instead of having to query the parent table first to get an
ID, and then having to query the child table with that ID. Also, the Contacts Provider processes
a query against an entity in a single transaction, which ensures that the retrieved data is
internally consistent.
</p>
<p class="note">
<strong>Note:</strong> An entity usually doesn't contain all the columns of the parent and
child table. If you attempt to work with a column name that isn't in the list of column name
constants for the entity, you'll get an {@link java.lang.Exception}.
</p>
<p>
The following snippet shows how to retrieve all the raw contact rows for a contact. The snippet
is part of a larger application that has two activities, "main" and "detail". The main activity
shows a list of contact rows; when the user select one, the activity sends its ID to the detail
activity. The detail activity uses the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity}
to display all of the data rows from all of the raw contacts associated with the selected
contact.
</p>
<p>
This snippet is taken from the "detail" activity:
</p>
<pre>
...
/*
* Appends the entity path to the URI. In the case of the Contacts Provider, the
* expected URI is content://com.google.contacts/#/entity (# is the ID value).
*/
mContactUri = Uri.withAppendedPath(
mContactUri,
ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity.CONTENT_DIRECTORY);
// Initializes the loader identified by LOADER_ID.
getLoaderManager().initLoader(
LOADER_ID, // The identifier of the loader to initialize
null, // Arguments for the loader (in this case, none)
this); // The context of the activity
// Creates a new cursor adapter to attach to the list view
mCursorAdapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(
this, // the context of the activity
R.layout.detail_list_item, // the view item containing the detail widgets
mCursor, // the backing cursor
mFromColumns, // the columns in the cursor that provide the data
mToViews, // the views in the view item that display the data
0); // flags
// Sets the ListView's backing adapter.
mRawContactList.setAdapter(mCursorAdapter);
...
@Override
public Loader<Cursor> onCreateLoader(int id, Bundle args) {
/*
* Sets the columns to retrieve.
* RAW_CONTACT_ID is included to identify the raw contact associated with the data row.
* DATA1 contains the first column in the data row (usually the most important one).
* MIMETYPE indicates the type of data in the data row.
*/
String[] projection =
{
ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity.RAW_CONTACT_ID,
ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity.DATA1,
ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity.MIMETYPE
};
/*
* Sorts the retrieved cursor by raw contact id, to keep all data rows for a single raw
* contact collated together.
*/
String sortOrder =
ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity.RAW_CONTACT_ID +
" ASC";
/*
* Returns a new CursorLoader. The arguments are similar to
* ContentResolver.query(), except for the Context argument, which supplies the location of
* the ContentResolver to use.
*/
return new CursorLoader(
getApplicationContext(), // The activity's context
mContactUri, // The entity content URI for a single contact
projection, // The columns to retrieve
null, // Retrieve all the raw contacts and their data rows.
null, //
sortOrder); // Sort by the raw contact ID.
}
</pre>
<p>
When the load is finished, {@link android.app.LoaderManager} invokes a callback to
{@link android.app.LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks#onLoadFinished(Loader, D)
onLoadFinished()}. One of the incoming arguments to this method is a
{@link android.database.Cursor} with the results of the query. In your own app, you can get the
data from this {@link android.database.Cursor} to display it or work with it further.
</p>
<h3 id="Transactions">Batch modification</h3>
<p>
Whenever possible, you should insert, update, and delete data in the Contacts Provider in
"batch mode", by creating an {@link java.util.ArrayList} of
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation} objects and calling
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#applyBatch(String, ArrayList) applyBatch()}. Because
the Contacts Provider performs all of the operations in an
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#applyBatch(String, ArrayList) applyBatch()} in a single
transaction, your modifications will never leave the contacts repository in an inconsistent
state. A batch modification also facilitates inserting a raw contact and its detail data at
the same time.
</p>
<p class="note">
<strong>Note:</strong> To modify a <em>single</em> raw contact, consider sending an intent to
the device's contacts application rather than handling the modification in your app.
Doing this is described in more detail in the section
<a href="#Intents">Retrieval and modification with intents</a>.
</p>
<h4>Yield points</h4>
<p>
A batch modification containing a large number of operations can block other processes,
resulting in a bad overall user experience. To organize all the modifications you want to
perform in as few separate lists as possible, and at the same time prevent them from
blocking the system, you should set <strong>yield points</strong> for one or more operations.
A yield point is a {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation} object that has its
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation#isYieldAllowed()} value set to
<code>true</code>. When the Contacts Provider encounters a yield point, it pauses its work to
let other processes run and closes the current transaction. When the provider starts again, it
continues with the next operation in the {@link java.util.ArrayList} and starts a new
transaction.
</p>
<p>
Yield points do result in more than one transaction per call to
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#applyBatch(String, ArrayList) applyBatch()}. Because of
this, you should set a yield point for the last operation for a set of related rows.
For example, you should set a yield point for the last operation in a set that adds a
raw contact rows and its associated data rows, or the last operation for a set of rows related
to a single contact.
</p>
<p>
Yield points are also a unit of atomic operation. All accesses between two yield points will
either succeed or fail as a single unit. If you don't set any yield points, the smallest
atomic operation is the entire batch of operations. If you do use yield points, you prevent
operations from degrading system performance, while at the same time ensuring that a subset of
operations is atomic.
</p>
<h4>Modification back references</h4>
<p>
When you're inserting a new raw contact row and its associated data rows as a set of
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation} objects, you have to link the data rows to
the raw contact row by inserting the raw contact's
{@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID} value as the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#RAW_CONTACT_ID} value. However, this
value isn't available when you're creating the {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation}
for the data row, because you haven't yet applied the
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation} for the raw contact row. To work around this,
the {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder} class has the method
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#withValueBackReference(String, int) withValueBackReference()}.
This method allows you to insert or modify a column with the
result of a previous operation.
</p>
<p>
The {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#withValueBackReference(String, int) withValueBackReference()}
method has two arguments:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
<code>key</code>
</dt>
<dd>
The key of a key-value pair. The value of this argument should be the name of a column
in the table that you're modifying.
</dd>
<dt>
<code>previousResult</code>
</dt>
<dd>
The 0-based index of a value in the array of
{@link android.content.ContentProviderResult} objects from
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#applyBatch(String, ArrayList) applyBatch()}. As
the batch operations are applied, the result of each operation is stored in an
intermediate array of results. The <code>previousResult</code> value is the index
of one of these results, which is retrieved and stored with the <code>key</code>
value. This allows you to insert a new raw contact record and get back its
{@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID} value, then make a "back reference" to the
value when you add a {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} row.
<p>
The entire result array is created when you first call
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#applyBatch(String, ArrayList) applyBatch()},
with a size equal to the size of the {@link java.util.ArrayList} of
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation} objects you provide. However, all
the elements in the result array are set to <code>null</code>, and if you try
to do a back reference to a result for an operation that hasn't yet been applied,
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#withValueBackReference(String, int) withValueBackReference()}
throws an {@link java.lang.Exception}.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
The following snippets show how to insert a new raw contact and data in batch. They
includes code that establishes a yield point and uses a back reference. The snippets are an
expanded version of the <code>createContacEntry()</code> method, which is part of the
<code>ContactAdder</code> class in the
<code><a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/ContactManager/index.html">
Contact Manager</a></code> sample application.
</p>
<p>
The first snippet retrieves contact data from the UI. At this point, the user has already
selected the account for which the new raw contact should be added.
</p>
<pre>
// Creates a contact entry from the current UI values, using the currently-selected account.
protected void createContactEntry() {
/*
* Gets values from the UI
*/
String name = mContactNameEditText.getText().toString();
String phone = mContactPhoneEditText.getText().toString();
String email = mContactEmailEditText.getText().toString();
int phoneType = mContactPhoneTypes.get(
mContactPhoneTypeSpinner.getSelectedItemPosition());
int emailType = mContactEmailTypes.get(
mContactEmailTypeSpinner.getSelectedItemPosition());
</pre>
<p>
The next snippet creates an operation to insert the raw contact row into the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} table:
</p>
<pre>
/*
* Prepares the batch operation for inserting a new raw contact and its data. Even if
* the Contacts Provider does not have any data for this person, you can't add a Contact,
* only a raw contact. The Contacts Provider will then add a Contact automatically.
*/
// Creates a new array of ContentProviderOperation objects.
ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation> ops =
new ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation>();
/*
* Creates a new raw contact with its account type (server type) and account name
* (user's account). Remember that the display name is not stored in this row, but in a
* StructuredName data row. No other data is required.
*/
ContentProviderOperation.Builder op =
ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.RawContacts.CONTENT_URI)
.withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE, mSelectedAccount.getType())
.withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME, mSelectedAccount.getName());
// Builds the operation and adds it to the array of operations
ops.add(op.build());
</pre>
<p>
Next, the code creates data rows for the display name, phone, and email rows.
</p>
<p>
Each operation builder object uses
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#withValueBackReference(String, int) withValueBackReference()}
to get the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#RAW_CONTACT_ID}. The reference points
back to the {@link android.content.ContentProviderResult} object from the first operation,
which adds the raw contact row and returns its new {@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID}
value. As a result, each data row is automatically linked by its
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns#RAW_CONTACT_ID}
to the new {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} row to which it belongs.
</p>
<p>
The {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder} object that adds the email row is
flagged with {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#withYieldAllowed(boolean)
withYieldAllowed()}, which sets a yield point:
</p>
<pre>
// Creates the display name for the new raw contact, as a StructuredName data row.
op =
ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI)
/*
* withValueBackReference sets the value of the first argument to the value of
* the ContentProviderResult indexed by the second argument. In this particular
* call, the raw contact ID column of the StructuredName data row is set to the
* value of the result returned by the first operation, which is the one that
* actually adds the raw contact row.
*/
.withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
// Sets the data row's MIME type to StructuredName
.withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
// Sets the data row's display name to the name in the UI.
.withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.DISPLAY_NAME, name);
// Builds the operation and adds it to the array of operations
ops.add(op.build());
// Inserts the specified phone number and type as a Phone data row
op =
ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI)
/*
* Sets the value of the raw contact id column to the new raw contact ID returned
* by the first operation in the batch.
*/
.withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
// Sets the data row's MIME type to Phone
.withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
// Sets the phone number and type
.withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER, phone)
.withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.TYPE, phoneType);
// Builds the operation and adds it to the array of operations
ops.add(op.build());
// Inserts the specified email and type as a Phone data row
op =
ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI)
/*
* Sets the value of the raw contact id column to the new raw contact ID returned
* by the first operation in the batch.
*/
.withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
// Sets the data row's MIME type to Email
.withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
// Sets the email address and type
.withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.ADDRESS, email)
.withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.TYPE, emailType);
/*
* Demonstrates a yield point. At the end of this insert, the batch operation's thread
* will yield priority to other threads. Use after every set of operations that affect a
* single contact, to avoid degrading performance.
*/
op.withYieldAllowed(true);
// Builds the operation and adds it to the array of operations
ops.add(op.build());
</pre>
<p>
The last snippet shows the call to
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#applyBatch(String, ArrayList) applyBatch()} that
inserts the new raw contact and data rows.
</p>
<pre>
// Ask the Contacts Provider to create a new contact
Log.d(TAG,"Selected account: " + mSelectedAccount.getName() + " (" +
mSelectedAccount.getType() + ")");
Log.d(TAG,"Creating contact: " + name);
/*
* Applies the array of ContentProviderOperation objects in batch. The results are
* discarded.
*/
try {
getContentResolver().applyBatch(ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
} catch (Exception e) {
// Display a warning
Context ctx = getApplicationContext();
CharSequence txt = getString(R.string.contactCreationFailure);
int duration = Toast.LENGTH_SHORT;
Toast toast = Toast.makeText(ctx, txt, duration);
toast.show();
// Log exception
Log.e(TAG, "Exception encountered while inserting contact: " + e);
}
}
</pre>
<p>
Batch operations also allow you to implement <strong>optimistic concurrency control</strong>,
a method of applying modification transactions without having to lock the underlying repository.
To use this method, you apply the transaction and then check for other modifications that
may have been made at the same time. If you find an inconsistent modification has occurred, you
roll back your transaction and retry it.
</p>
<p>
Optimistic concurrency control is useful for a mobile device, where there's only one user at
a time, and simultaneous accesses to a data repository are rare. Because locking isn't used,
no time is wasted on setting locks or waiting for other transactions to release their locks.
</p>
<p>
To use optimistic concurrency control while updating a single
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} row, follow these steps:
</p>
<ol>
<li>
Retrieve the raw contact's {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#VERSION}
column along with the other data you retrieve.
</li>
<li>
Create a {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder} object suitable for
enforcing a constraint, using the method
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation#newAssertQuery(Uri)}. For the content URI,
use {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts#CONTENT_URI
RawContacts.CONTENT_URI}
with the raw contact's {@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID} appended to it.
</li>
<li>
For the {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder} object, call
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#withValue(String, Object)
withValue()} to compare the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SyncColumns#VERSION}
column to the version number you just retrieved.
</li>
<li>
For the same {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder}, call
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#withExpectedCount(int)
withExpectedCount()} to ensure that only one row is tested by this assertion.
</li>
<li>
Call {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation.Builder#build()} to create the
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation} object, then add this object as the
first object in the {@link java.util.ArrayList} that you pass to
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#applyBatch(String, ArrayList) applyBatch()}.
</li>
<li>
Apply the batch transaction.
</li>
</ol>
<p>
If the raw contact row is updated by another operation between the time you read the row and
the time you attempt to modify it, the "assert" {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation}
will fail, and the entire batch of operations will be backed out. You can then choose to retry
the batch or take some other action.
</p>
<p>
The following snippet demonstrates how to create an "assert"
{@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation} after querying for a single raw contact using
a {@link android.content.CursorLoader}:
</p>
<pre>
/*
* The application uses CursorLoader to query the raw contacts table. The system calls this method
* when the load is finished.
*/
public void onLoadFinished(Loader<Cursor> loader, Cursor cursor) {
// Gets the raw contact's _ID and VERSION values
mRawContactID = cursor.getLong(cursor.getColumnIndex(BaseColumns._ID));
mVersion = cursor.getInt(cursor.getColumnIndex(SyncColumns.VERSION));
}
...
// Sets up a Uri for the assert operation
Uri rawContactUri = ContentUris.withAppendedId(RawContacts.CONTENT_URI, mRawContactID);
// Creates a builder for the assert operation
ContentProviderOperation.Builder assertOp = ContentProviderOperation.netAssertQuery(rawContactUri);
// Adds the assertions to the assert operation: checks the version and count of rows tested
assertOp.withValue(SyncColumns.VERSION, mVersion);
assertOp.withExpectedCount(1);
// Creates an ArrayList to hold the ContentProviderOperation objects
ArrayList ops = new ArrayList<ContentProviderOperationg>;
ops.add(assertOp.build());
// You would add the rest of your batch operations to "ops" here
...
// Applies the batch. If the assert fails, an Exception is thrown
try
{
ContentProviderResult[] results =
getContentResolver().applyBatch(AUTHORITY, ops);
} catch (OperationApplicationException e) {
// Actions you want to take if the assert operation fails go here
}
</pre>
<h3 id="Intents">Retrieval and modification with intents</h3>
<p>
Sending an intent to the device's contacts application allows you to access the Contacts
Provider indirectly. The intent starts the device's contacts application UI, in which users can
do contacts-related work. With this type of access, users can:
<ul>
<li>Pick a contact from a list and have it returned to your app for further work.</li>
<li>Edit an existing contact's data.</li>
<li>Insert a new raw contact for any of their accounts.</li>
<li>Delete a contact or contacts data.</li>
</ul>
<p>
If the user is inserting or updating data, you can collect the data first and send it as
part of the intent.
</p>
<p>
When you use intents to access the Contacts Provider via the device's contacts application, you
don't have to write your own UI or code for accessing the provider. You also don't have to
request permission to read or write to the provider. The device's contacts application can
delegate read permission for a contact to you, and because you're making modifications to the
provider through another application, you don't have to have write permissions.
</p>
<p>
The general process of sending an intent to access a provider is described in detail in the
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/providers/content-provider-basics.html">
Content Provider Basics</a> guide in the section "Data access via intents." The action,
MIME type, and data values you use for the available tasks are summarized in Table 4, while the
extras values you can use with
{@link android.content.Intent#putExtra(String, String) putExtra()} are listed in the
reference documentation for {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Intents.Insert}:
</p>
<p class="table-caption" id="table4">
<strong>Table 4.</strong> Contacts Provider Intents.
</p>
<table style="width:75%">
<tr>
<th scope="col" style="width:10%">Task</th>
<th scope="col" style="width:5%">Action</th>
<th scope="col" style="width:10%">Data</th>
<th scope="col" style="width:10%">MIME type</th>
<th scope="col" style="width:25%">Notes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Pick a contact from a list</strong></td>
<td>{@link android.content.Intent#ACTION_PICK}</td>
<td>
One of:
<ul>
<li>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts#CONTENT_URI Contacts.CONTENT_URI},
which displays a list of contacts.
</li>
<li>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone#CONTENT_URI Phone.CONTENT_URI},
which displays a list of phone numbers for a raw contact.
</li>
<li>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredPostal#CONTENT_URI
StructuredPostal.CONTENT_URI},
which displays a list of postal addresses for a raw contact.
</li>
<li>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email#CONTENT_URI Email.CONTENT_URI},
which displays a list of email addresses for a raw contact.
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td>
Not used
</td>
<td>
Displays a list of raw contacts or a list of data from a raw contact, depending on the
content URI type you supply.
<p>
Call
{@link android.app.Activity#startActivityForResult(Intent, int) startActivityForResult()},
which returns the content URI of the selected row. The form of the URI is the
table's content URI with the row's <code>LOOKUP_ID</code> appended to it.
The device's contacts app delegates read and write permissions to this content URI
for the life of your activity. See the
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/providers/content-provider-basics.html">
Content Provider Basics</a> guide for more details.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Insert a new raw contact</strong></td>
<td>{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Intents.Insert#ACTION Insert.ACTION}</td>
<td>N/A</td>
<td>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts#CONTENT_TYPE
RawContacts.CONTENT_TYPE}, MIME type for a set of raw contacts.
</td>
<td>
Displays the device's contacts application's <strong>Add Contact</strong> screen. The
extras values you add to the intent are displayed. If sent with
{@link android.app.Activity#startActivityForResult(Intent, int) startActivityForResult()},
the content URI of the newly-added raw contact is passed back to your activity's
{@link android.app.Activity#onActivityResult(int, int, Intent) onActivityResult()}
callback method in the {@link android.content.Intent} argument, in the
"data" field. To get the value, call {@link android.content.Intent#getData()}.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Edit a contact</strong></td>
<td>{@link android.content.Intent#ACTION_EDIT}</td>
<td>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts#CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI} for
the contact. The editor activity will allow the user to edit any of the data associated
with this contact.
</td>
<td>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts#CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE
Contacts.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE}, a single contact.</td>
<td>
Displays the Edit Contact screen in the contacts application. The extras values you add
to the intent are displayed. When the user clicks <strong>Done</strong> to save the
edits, your activity returns to the foreground.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Display a picker that can also add data.</strong></td>
<td>{@link android.content.Intent#ACTION_INSERT_OR_EDIT}</td>
<td>
N/A
</td>
<td>
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts#CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE}
</td>
<td>
This intent always displays the contacts app's picker screen. The user can either
pick a contact to edit, or add a new contact. Either the edit or the add screen
appears, depending on the user's choice, and the extras data you pass in the intent
is displayed. If your app displays contact data such as an email or phone number, use
this intent to allow the user to add the data to an existing contact.
contact,
<p class="note">
<strong>Note:</strong> There's no need to send a name value in this intent's extras,
because the user always picks an existing name or adds a new one. Moreover,
if you send a name, and the user chooses to do an edit, the contacts app will
display the name you send, overwriting the previous value. If the user doesn't
notice this and saves the edit, the old value is lost.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
The device's contacts app doesn't allow you to delete a raw contact or any of its data with an
intent. Instead, to delete a raw contact, use
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#delete(Uri, String, String[]) ContentResolver.delete()}
or {@link android.content.ContentProviderOperation#newDelete(Uri)
ContentProviderOperation.newDelete()}.
</p>
<p>
The following snippet shows how to construct and send an intent that inserts a new raw
contact and data:
</p>
<pre>
// Gets values from the UI
String name = mContactNameEditText.getText().toString();
String phone = mContactPhoneEditText.getText().toString();
String email = mContactEmailEditText.getText().toString();
String company = mCompanyName.getText().toString();
String jobtitle = mJobTitle.getText().toString();
// Creates a new intent for sending to the device's contacts application
Intent insertIntent = new Intent(ContactsContract.Intents.Insert.ACTION);
// Sets the MIME type to the one expected by the insertion activity
insertIntent.setType(ContactsContract.RawContacts.CONTENT_TYPE);
// Sets the new contact name
insertIntent.putExtra(ContactsContract.Intents.Insert.NAME, name);
// Sets the new company and job title
insertIntent.putExtra(ContactsContract.Intents.Insert.COMPANY, company);
insertIntent.putExtra(ContactsContract.Intents.Insert.JOB_TITLE, jobtitle);
/*
* Demonstrates adding data rows as an array list associated with the DATA key
*/
// Defines an array list to contain the ContentValues objects for each row
ArrayList<ContentValues> contactData = new ArrayList<ContentValues>();
/*
* Defines the raw contact row
*/
// Sets up the row as a ContentValues object
ContentValues rawContactRow = new ContentValues();
// Adds the account type and name to the row
rawContactRow.put(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE, mSelectedAccount.getType());
rawContactRow.put(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME, mSelectedAccount.getName());
// Adds the row to the array
contactData.add(rawContactRow);
/*
* Sets up the phone number data row
*/
// Sets up the row as a ContentValues object
ContentValues phoneRow = new ContentValues();
// Specifies the MIME type for this data row (all data rows must be marked by their type)
phoneRow.put(
ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE
);
// Adds the phone number and its type to the row
phoneRow.put(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER, phone);
// Adds the row to the array
contactData.add(phoneRow);
/*
* Sets up the email data row
*/
// Sets up the row as a ContentValues object
ContentValues emailRow = new ContentValues();
// Specifies the MIME type for this data row (all data rows must be marked by their type)
emailRow.put(
ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE
);
// Adds the email address and its type to the row
emailRow.put(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.ADDRESS, email);
// Adds the row to the array
contactData.add(emailRow);
/*
* Adds the array to the intent's extras. It must be a parcelable object in order to
* travel between processes. The device's contacts app expects its key to be
* Intents.Insert.DATA
*/
insertIntent.putParcelableArrayListExtra(ContactsContract.Intents.Insert.DATA, contactData);
// Send out the intent to start the device's contacts app in its add contact activity.
startActivity(insertIntent);
</pre>
<h3 id="DataIntegrity">Data integrity</h3>
<p>
Because the contacts repository contains important and sensitive data that users expect to be
correct and up-to-date, the Contacts Provider has well-defined rules for data integrity. It's
your responsibility to conform to these rules when you modify contacts data. The important
rules are listed here:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
Always add a {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName} row
for every {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} row you add.
</dt>
<dd>
A {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} row without a
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName} row in the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table may cause problems during
aggregation.
</dd>
<dt>
Always link new {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} rows to their parent
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} row.
</dt>
<dd>
A {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} row that isn't linked to a
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} won't be visible in the device's
contacts application, and it might cause problems with sync adapters.
</dd>
<dt>
Change data only for those raw contacts that you own.
</dt>
<dd>
Remember that the Contacts Provider is usually managing data from several different
account types/online services. You need to ensure that your application only modifies
or deletes data for rows that belong to you, and that it only inserts data with an
account type and name that you control.
</dd>
<dt>
Always use the constants defined in {@link android.provider.ContactsContract} and its
subclasses for authorities, content URIs, URI paths, column names, MIME types, and
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.CommonColumns#TYPE} values.
</dt>
<dd>
Using these constants helps you to avoid errors. You'll also be notified with compiler
warnings if any of the constants is deprecated.
</dd>
</dl>
<h3 id="CustomData">Custom data rows</h3>
<p>
By creating and using your own custom MIME types, you can insert, edit, delete, and retrieve
your own data rows in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table. Your rows
are limited to using the column defined in
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns}, although you can map your own
type-specific column names to the default column names. In the device's contacts application,
the data for your rows is displayed but can't be edited or deleted, and users can't add
additional data. To allow users to modify your custom data rows, you must provide an editor
activity in your own application.
</p>
<p>
To display your custom data, provide a <code>contacts.xml</code> file containing a
<code><ContactsAccountType></code> element and one or more of its
<code><ContactsDataKind></code> child elements. This is described in more detail in the
section <a href="#SocialStreamDataKind"><code><ContactsDataKind> element</code></a>.
</p>
<p>
To learn more about custom MIME types, read the
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/providers/content-provider-creating.html">
Creating a Content Provider</a> guide.
</p>
<h2 id="SyncAdapters">Contacts Provider Sync Adapters</h2>
<p>
The Contacts Provider is specifically designed for handling <strong>synchronization</strong>
of contacts data between a device and an online service. This allows users to download
existing data to a new device and upload existing data to a new account.
Synchronization also ensures that users have the latest data at hand, regardless
of the source of additions and changes. Another advantage of synchronization is that it makes
contacts data available even when the device is not connected to the network.
</p>
<p>
Although you can implement synchronization in a variety of ways, the Android system provides
a plug-in synchronization framework that automates the following tasks:
<ul>
<li>
Checking network availability.
</li>
<li>
Scheduling and executing synchronization, based on user preferences.
</li>
<li>
Restarting synchronizations that have stopped.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
To use this framework, you supply a sync adapter plug-in. Each sync adapter is unique to a
service and content provider, but can handle multiple account names for the same service. The
framework also allows multiple sync adapters for the same service and provider.
</p>
<h3 id="SyncClassesFiles">Sync adapter classes and files</h3>
<p>
You implement a sync adapter as a subclass of
{@link android.content.AbstractThreadedSyncAdapter} and install it as part of an Android
application. The system learns about the sync adapter from elements in your application
manifest, and from a special XML file pointed to by the manifest. The XML file defines the
account type for the online service and the authority for the content provider, which together
uniquely identify the adapter. The sync adapter does not become active until the user adds an
account for the sync adapter's account type and enables synchronization for the content
provider the sync adapter syncs with. At that point, the system starts managing the adapter,
calling it as necessary to synchronize between the content provider and the server.
</p>
<p class="note">
<strong>Note:</strong> Using an account type as part of the sync adapter's identification allows
the system to detect and group together sync adapters that access different services from the
same organization. For example, sync adapters for Google online services all have the same
account type <code>com.google</code>. When users add a Google account to their devices, all
of the installed sync adapters for Google services are listed together; each sync adapter
listed syncs with a different content provider on the device.
</p>
<p>
Because most services require users to verify their identity before accessing
data, the Android system offers an authentication framework that is similar to, and often
used in conjunction with, the sync adapter framework. The authentication framework uses
plug-in authenticators that are subclasses of
{@link android.accounts.AbstractAccountAuthenticator}. An authenticator verifies
the user's identity in the following steps:
<ol>
<li>
Collects the user's name, password or similar information (the user's
<strong>credentials</strong>).
</li>
<li>
Sends the credentials to the service
</li>
<li>
Examines the service's reply.
</li>
</ol>
<p>
If the service accepts the credentials, the authenticator can
store the credentials for later use. Because of the plug-in authenticator framework, the
{@link android.accounts.AccountManager} can provide access to any authtokens an authenticator
supports and chooses to expose, such as OAuth2 authtokens.
</p>
<p>
Although authentication is not required, most contacts services use it.
However, you're not required to use the Android authentication framework to do authentication.
</p>
<h3 id="SyncAdapterImplementing">Sync adapter implementation</h3>
<p>
To implement a sync adapter for the Contacts Provider, you start by creating an
Android application that contains the following:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
A {@link android.app.Service} component that responds to requests from the system to
bind to the sync adapter.
</dt>
<dd>
When the system wants to run a synchronization, it calls the service's
{@link android.app.Service#onBind(Intent) onBind()} method to get an
{@link android.os.IBinder} for the sync adapter. This allows the system to do
cross-process calls to the adapter's methods.
<p>
In the <a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/index.html">
Sample Sync Adapter</a> sample app, the class name of this service is
<code>com.example.android.samplesync.syncadapter.SyncService</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
The actual sync adapter, implemented as a concrete subclass of
{@link android.content.AbstractThreadedSyncAdapter}.
</dt>
<dd>
This class does the work of downloading data from the server, uploading data from the
device, and resolving conflicts. The main work of the adapter is
done in the method {@link android.content.AbstractThreadedSyncAdapter#onPerformSync(
Account, Bundle, String, ContentProviderClient, SyncResult)
onPerformSync()}. This class must be instantiated as a singleton.
<p>
In the <a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/index.html">
Sample Sync Adapter</a> sample app, the sync adapter is defined in the class
<code>com.example.android.samplesync.syncadapter.SyncAdapter</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
A subclass of {@link android.app.Application}.
</dt>
<dd>
This class acts as a factory for the sync adapter singleton. Use the
{@link android.app.Application#onCreate()} method to instantiate the sync adapter, and
provide a static "getter" method to return the singleton to the
{@link android.app.Service#onBind(Intent) onBind()} method of the sync adapter's
service.
</dd>
<dt>
<strong>Optional:</strong> A {@link android.app.Service} component that responds to
requests from the system for user authentication.
</dt>
<dd>
{@link android.accounts.AccountManager} starts this service to begin the authentication
process. The service's {@link android.app.Service#onCreate()} method instantiates an
authenticator object. When the system wants to authenticate a user account for the
application's sync adapter, it calls the service's
{@link android.app.Service#onBind(Intent) onBind()} method to get an
{@link android.os.IBinder} for the authenticator. This allows the system to do
cross-process calls to the authenticator's methods..
<p>
In the <a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/index.html">
Sample Sync Adapter</a> sample app, the class name of this service is
<code>com.example.android.samplesync.authenticator.AuthenticationService</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<strong>Optional:</strong> A concrete subclass of
{@link android.accounts.AbstractAccountAuthenticator} that handles requests for
authentication.
</dt>
<dd>
This class provides methods that the {@link android.accounts.AccountManager} invokes
to authenticate the user's credentials with the server. The details of the
authentication process vary widely, based on the server technology in use. You should
refer to the documentation for your server software to learn more about authentication.
<p>
In the <a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/index.html">
Sample Sync Adapter</a> sample app, the authenticator is defined in the class
<code>com.example.android.samplesync.authenticator.Authenticator</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
XML files that define the sync adapter and authenticator to the system.
</dt>
<dd>
The sync adapter and authenticator service components described previously are
defined in
<code><<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/service-element.html">service</a>></code>
elements in the application manifest. These elements
contain
<code><<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/meta-data-element.html">meta-data</a>></code>
child elements that provide specific data to the
system:
<ul>
<li>
The
<code><<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/meta-data-element.html">meta-data</a>></code>
element for the sync adapter service points to the
XML file <code>res/xml/syncadapter.xml</code>. In turn, this file specifies
a URI for the web service that will be synchronized with the Contacts Provider,
and an account type for the web service.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Optional:</strong> The
<code><<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/meta-data-element.html">meta-data</a>></code>
element for the authenticator points to the XML file
<code>res/xml/authenticator.xml</code>. In turn, this file specifies the
account type that this authenticator supports, as well as UI resources that
appear during the authentication process. The account type specified in this
element must be the same as the account type specified for the sync
adapter.
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
</dl>
<h2 id="SocialStream">Social Stream Data</h2>
<p>
The android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems and
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotos tables
manage incoming data from social networks. You can write a sync adapter that adds stream data
from your own network to these tables, or you can read stream data from these tables and
display it in your own application, or both. With these features, your social networking
services and applications can be integrated into Android's social networking experience.
</p>
<h3 id="StreamText">Social stream text</h3>
<p>
Stream items are always associated with a raw contact. The
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#RAW_CONTACT_ID links to the
<code>_ID</code> value for the raw contact. The account type and account name of the raw
contact are also stored in the stream item row.
</p>
<p>
Store the data from your stream in the following columns:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#ACCOUNT_TYPE
</dt>
<dd>
<strong>Required.</strong> The user's account type for the raw contact associated with this
stream item. Remember to set this value when you insert a stream item.
</dd>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#ACCOUNT_NAME
</dt>
<dd>
<strong>Required.</strong> The user's account name for the raw contact associated with this
stream item. Remember to set this value when you insert a stream item.
</dd>
<dt>
Identifier columns
</dt>
<dd>
<strong>Required.</strong> You must insert the following identifier columns when you
insert a stream item:
<ul>
<li>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#CONTACT_ID: The
android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID value of the contact that this stream
item is associated with.
</li>
<li>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#CONTACT_LOOKUP_KEY: The
android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactsColumns#LOOKUP_KEY value of the
contact this stream item is associated with.
</li>
<li>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#RAW_CONTACT_ID: The
android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID value of the raw contact that this stream
item is associated with.
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#COMMENTS
</dt>
<dd>
Optional. Stores summary information that you can display at the beginning of a stream item.
</dd>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#TEXT
</dt>
<dd>
The text of the stream item, either the content that was posted by the source of the item,
or a description of some action that generated the stream item. This column can contain
any formatting and embedded resource images that can be rendered by
{@link android.text.Html#fromHtml(String) fromHtml()}. The provider may truncate or
ellipsize long content, but it will try to avoid breaking tags.
</dd>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#TIMESTAMP
</dt>
<dd>
A text string containing the time the stream item was inserted or updated, in the form
of <em>milliseconds</em> since epoch. Applications that insert or update stream items are
responsible for maintaining this column; it is not automatically maintained by the
Contacts Provider.
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
To display identifying information for your stream items, use the
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#RES_ICON,
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#RES_LABEL, and
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#RES_PACKAGE to link to resources
in your application.
</p>
<p>
The android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems table also contains the columns
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#SYNC1 through
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#SYNC4 for the exclusive use of
sync adapters.
</p>
<h3 id="StreamPhotos">Social stream photos</h3>
<p>
The android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotos table stores photos associated
with a stream item. The table's
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotosColumns#STREAM_ITEM_ID column
links to values in the {@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID} column of
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems table. Photo references are stored in the
table in these columns:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotos#PHOTO column (a BLOB).
</dt>
<dd>
A binary representation of the photo, resized by the provider for storage and display.
This column is available for backwards compatibility with previous versions of the Contacts
Provider that used it for storing photos. However, in the current version
you should not use this column to store photos. Instead, use
either android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotosColumns#PHOTO_FILE_ID or
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotosColumns#PHOTO_URI (both of
which are described in the following points) to store photos in a file. This column now
contains a thumbnail of the photo, which is available for reading.
</dd>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotosColumns#PHOTO_FILE_ID
</dt>
<dd>
A numeric identifier of a photo for a raw contact. Append this value to the constant
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.DisplayPhoto#CONTENT_URI DisplayPhoto.CONTENT_URI}
to get a content URI pointing to a single photo file, and then call
{@link android.content.ContentResolver#openAssetFileDescriptor(Uri, String)
openAssetFileDescriptor()} to get a handle to the photo file.
</dd>
<dt>
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotosColumns#PHOTO_URI
</dt>
<dd>
A content URI pointing directly to the photo file for the photo represented by this row.
Call {@link android.content.ContentResolver#openAssetFileDescriptor(Uri, String)
openAssetFileDescriptor()} with this URI to get a handle to the photo file.
</dd>
</dl>
<h3 id="SocialStreamTables">Using the social stream tables</h3>
<p>
These tables work the same as the other main tables in the Contacts Provider, except that:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
These tables require additional access permissions. To read from them, your application
must have the permission android.Manifest.permission#READ_SOCIAL_STREAM. To
modify them, your application must have the permission
android.Manifest.permission#WRITE_SOCIAL_STREAM.
</li>
<li>
For the android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems table, the number of rows
stored for each raw contact is limited. Once this limit is reached,
the Contacts Provider makes space for new stream item rows by automatically deleting
the rows having the oldest
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemsColumns#TIMESTAMP. To get the
limit, issue a query to the content URI
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems#CONTENT_LIMIT_URI. You can leave
all the arguments other than the content URI set to <code>null</code>. The query
returns a Cursor containing a single row, with the single column
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems#MAX_ITEMS.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
The class android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems.StreamItemPhotos defines a
sub-table of android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotos containing the photo
rows for a single stream item.
</p>
<h3 id="SocialStreamInteraction">Social stream interactions</h3>
<p>
The social stream data managed by the Contacts Provider, in conjunction with the
device's contacts application, offers a powerful way to connect your social networking system
with existing contacts. The following features are available:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
By syncing your social networking service to the Contacts Provider with a sync
adapter, you can retrieve recent activity for a user's contacts and store it in
the android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItems and
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotos tables for later use.
</li>
<li>
Besides regular synchronization, you can trigger your sync adapter to retrieve
additional data when the user selects a contact to view. This allows your sync adapter
to retrieve high-resolution photos and the most recent stream items for the contact.
</li>
<li>
By registering a notification with the device's contacts application and the Contacts
Provider, you can <em>receive</em> an intent when a contact is viewed, and at that point
update the contact's status from your service. This approach may be faster and use less
bandwidth than doing a full sync with a sync adapter.
</li>
<li>
Users can add a contact to your social networking service while looking at the contact
in the device's contacts application. You enable this with the "invite contact" feature,
which you enable with a combination of an activity that adds an existing contact to your
network, and an XML file that provides the device's contacts application and the
Contacts Provider with the details of your application.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Regular synchronization of stream items with the Contacts Provider is the same as
other synchronizations. To learn more about synchronization, see the section
<a href="#SyncAdapters">Contacts Provider Sync Adapters</a>. Registering notifications and
inviting contacts are covered in the next two sections.
</p>
<h4>Registering to handle social networking views</h4>
<p>
To register your sync adapter to receive notifications when the user views a contact that's
managed by your sync adapter:
</p>
<ol>
<li>
Create a file named <code>contacts.xml</code> in your project's <code>res/xml/</code>
directory. If you already have this file, you can skip this step.
</li>
<li>
In this file, add the element
<code><ContactsAccountType xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"></code>.
If this element already exists, you can skip this step.
</li>
<li>
To register a service that is notified when the user opens a contact's detail page in
the device's contacts application, add the attribute
<code>viewContactNotifyService="<em>serviceclass</em>"</code> to the element, where
<code><em>serviceclass</em></code> is the fully-qualified classname of the service
that should receive the intent from the device's contacts application. For the notifier
service, use a class that extends {@link android.app.IntentService}, to allow the service to
receive intents. The data in the incoming intent contains the content URI of the raw
contact the user clicked. From the notifier service, you can bind to and then call your
sync adapter to update the data for the raw contact.
</li>
</ol>
<p>
To register an activity to be called when the user clicks on a stream item or photo or both:
</p>
<ol>
<li>
Create a file named <code>contacts.xml</code> in your project's <code>res/xml/</code>
directory. If you already have this file, you can skip this step.
</li>
<li>
In this file, add the element
<code><ContactsAccountType xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"></code>.
If this element already exists, you can skip this step.
</li>
<li>
To register one of your activities to handle the user clicking on a stream item in the
device's contacts application, add the attribute
<code>viewStreamItemActivity="<em>activityclass</em>"</code> to the element, where
<code><em>activityclass</em></code> is the fully-qualified classname of the activity
that should receive the intent from the device's contacts application.
</li>
<li>
To register one of your activities to handle the user clicking on a stream photo in the
device's contacts application, add the attribute
<code>viewStreamItemPhotoActivity="<em>activityclass</em>"</code> to the element, where
<code><em>activityclass</em></code> is the fully-qualified classname of the activity
that should receive the intent from the device's contacts application.
</li>
</ol>
<p>
The <code><ContactsAccountType></code> element is described in more detail in the
section <a href="#SocialStreamAcctType"><ContactsAccountType> element</a>.
</p>
<p>
The incoming intent contains the content URI of the item or photo that the user clicked.
To have separate activities for text items and for photos, use both attributes in the same file.
</p>
<h4>Interacting with your social networking service</h4>
<p>
Users don't have to leave the device's contacts application to invite a contact to your social
networking site. Instead, you can have the device's contacts app send an intent for inviting the
contact to one of your activities. To set this up:
</p>
<ol>
<li>
Create a file named <code>contacts.xml</code> in your project's <code>res/xml/</code>
directory. If you already have this file, you can skip this step.
</li>
<li>
In this file, add the element
<code><ContactsAccountType xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"></code>.
If this element already exists, you can skip this step.
</li>
<li>
Add the following attributes:
<ul>
<li><code>inviteContactActivity="<em>activityclass</em>"</code></li>
<li>
<code>inviteContactActionLabel="@string/<em>invite_action_label</em>"</code>
</li>
</ul>
The <code><em>activityclass</em></code> value is the fully-qualified classname of the
activity that should receive the intent. The <code><em>invite_action_label</em></code>
value is a text string that's displayed in the <strong>Add Connection</strong> menu in the
device's contacts application.
</li>
</ol>
<p class="note">
<strong>Note:</strong> <code>ContactsSource</code> is a deprecated tag name for
<code>ContactsAccountType</code>.
</p>
<h3 id="ContactsFile">contacts.xml reference</h3>
<p>
The file <code>contacts.xml</code> contains XML elements that control the interaction of your
sync adapter and application with the contacts application and the Contacts Provider. These
elements are described in the following sections.
</p>
<h4 id="SocialStreamAcctType"><ContactsAccountType> element</h4>
<p>
The <code><ContactsAccountType></code> element controls the interaction of your
application with the contacts application. It has the following syntax:
</p>
<pre>
<ContactsAccountType
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
inviteContactActivity="<em>activity_name</em>"
inviteContactActionLabel="<em>invite_command_text</em>"
viewContactNotifyService="<em>view_notify_service</em>"
viewGroupActivity="<em>group_view_activity</em>"
viewGroupActionLabel="<em>group_action_text</em>"
viewStreamItemActivity="<em>viewstream_activity_name</em>"
viewStreamItemPhotoActivity="<em>viewphotostream_activity_name</em>">
</pre>
<p>
<strong>contained in:</strong>
</p>
<p>
<code>res/xml/contacts.xml</code>
</p>
<p>
<strong>can contain:</strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong><code><ContactsDataKind></code></strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong>Description:</strong>
</p>
<p>
Declares Android components and UI labels that allow users to invite one of their contacts to
a social network, notify users when one of their social networking streams is updated, and
so forth.
</p>
<p>
Notice that the attribute prefix <code>android:</code> is not necessary for the attributes
of <code><ContactsAccountType></code>.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Attributes:</strong>
</p>
<dl>
<dt>{@code inviteContactActivity}</dt>
<dd>
The fully-qualified class name of the activity in your application that you want to
activate when the user selects <strong>Add connection</strong> from the device's
contacts application.
</dd>
<dt>{@code inviteContactActionLabel}</dt>
<dd>
A text string that is displayed for the activity specified in
{@code inviteContactActivity}, in the <strong>Add connection</strong> menu.
For example, you can use the string "Follow in my network". You can use a string resource
identifier for this label.
</dd>
<dt>{@code viewContactNotifyService}</dt>
<dd>
The fully-qualified class name of a service in your application that should receive
notifications when the user views a contact. This notification is sent by the device's
contacts application; it allows your application to postpone data-intensive operations
until they're needed. For example, your application can respond to this notification
by reading in and displaying the contact's high-resolution photo and most recent
social stream items. This feature is described in more detail in the section
<a href="#SocialStreamInteraction">Social stream interactions</a>. You can see an
example of the notification service in the <code>NotifierService.java</code> file in the
<a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/index.html">SampleSyncAdapter</a>
sample app.
</dd>
<dt>{@code viewGroupActivity}</dt>
<dd>
The fully-qualified class name of an activity in your application that can display
group information. When the user clicks the group label in the device's contacts
application, the UI for this activity is displayed.
</dd>
<dt>{@code viewGroupActionLabel}</dt>
<dd>
The label that the contacts application displays for a UI control that allows
the user to look at groups in your application.
<p>
For example, if you install the Google+ application on your device and you sync
Google+ with the contacts application, you'll see Google+ circles listed as groups
in your contacts application's <strong>Groups</strong> tab. If you click on a
Google+ circle, you'll see people in that circle listed as a "group". At the top of
the display, you'll see a Google+ icon; if you click it, control switches to the
Google+ app. The contacts application does this with the
{@code viewGroupActivity}, using the Google+ icon as the value of
{@code viewGroupActionLabel}.
</p>
<p>
A string resource identifier is allowed for this attribute.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>{@code viewStreamItemActivity}</dt>
<dd>
The fully-qualified class name of an activity in your application that the device's
contacts application launches when the user clicks a stream item for a raw contact.
</dd>
<dt>{@code viewStreamItemPhotoActivity}</dt>
<dd>
The fully-qualified class name of an activity in your application that the device's
contacts application launches when the user clicks a photo in the stream item
for a raw contact.
</dd>
</dl>
<h4 id="SocialStreamDataKind"><ContactsDataKind> element</h4>
<p>
The <code><ContactsDataKind></code> element controls the display of your application's
custom data rows in the contacts application's UI. It has the following syntax:
</p>
<pre>
<ContactsDataKind
android:mimeType="<em>MIMEtype</em>"
android:icon="<em>icon_resources</em>"
android:summaryColumn="<em>column_name</em>"
android:detailColumn="<em>column_name</em>">
</pre>
<p>
<strong>contained in:</strong>
</p>
<code><ContactsAccountType></code>
<p>
<strong>Description:</strong>
</p>
<p>
Use this element to have the contacts application display the contents of a custom data row as
part of the details of a raw contact. Each <code><ContactsDataKind></code> child element
of <code><ContactsAccountType></code> represents a type of custom data row that your sync
adapter adds to the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table. Add one
<code><ContactsDataKind></code> element for each custom MIME type you use. You don't have
to add the element if you have a custom data row for which you don't want to display data.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Attributes:</strong>
</p>
<dl>
<dt>{@code android:mimeType}</dt>
<dd>
The custom MIME type you've defined for one of your custom data row types in the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table. For example, the value
<code>vnd.android.cursor.item/vnd.example.locationstatus</code> could be a custom
MIME type for a data row that records a contact's last known location.
</dd>
<dt>{@code android:icon}</dt>
<dd>
An Android
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/drawable-resource.html">drawable resource</a>
that the contacts application displays next to your data. Use this to indicate to the
user that the data comes from your service.
</dd>
<dt>{@code android:summaryColumn}</dt>
<dd>
The column name for the first of two values retrieved from the data row. The
value is displayed as the first line of the entry for this data row. The first line is
intended to be used as a summary of the data, but that is optional. See also
<a href="#detailColumn">android:detailColumn</a>.
</dd>
<dt>{@code android:detailColumn}</dt>
<dd>
The column name for the second of two values retrieved from the data row. The value is
displayed as the second line of the entry for this data row. See also
{@code android:summaryColumn}.
</dd>
</dl>
<h2 id="AdditionalFeatures">Additional Contacts Provider Features</h2>
<p>
Besides the main features described in previous sections, the Contacts Provider offers
these useful features for working with contacts data:
</p>
<ul>
<li>Contact groups</li>
<li>Photo features</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Groups">Contact groups</h3>
<p>
The Contacts Provider can optionally label collections of related contacts with
<strong>group</strong> data. If the server associated with a user account
wants to maintain groups, the sync adapter for the account's account type should transfer
groups data between the Contacts Provider and the server. When users add a new contact to the
server and then put this contact in a new group, the sync adapter must add the new group
to the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Groups} table. The group or groups a raw
contact belongs to are stored in the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table, using
the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.GroupMembership} MIME type.
</p>
<p>
If you're designing a sync adapter that will add raw contact data from
server to the Contacts Provider, and you aren't using groups, then you need to tell the
Provider to make your data visible. In the code that is executed when a user adds an account
to the device, update the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Settings}
row that the Contacts Provider adds for the account. In this row, set the value of the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.SettingsColumns#UNGROUPED_VISIBLE
Settings.UNGROUPED_VISIBLE} column to 1. When you do this, the Contacts Provider will always
make your contacts data visible, even if you don't use groups.
</p>
<h3 id="Photos">Contact photos</h3>
<p>
The {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table stores photos as rows with MIME type
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Photo#CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE
Photo.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE}. The row's
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContactsColumns#CONTACT_ID} column is linked to the
{@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID} column of the raw contact to which it belongs.
The class {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts.Photo} defines a sub-table of
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts} containing photo information for a contact's
primary photo, which is the primary photo of the contact's primary raw contact. Similarly,
the class {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts.DisplayPhoto} defines a sub-table
of {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts} containing photo information for a
raw contact's primary photo.
</p>
<p>
The reference documentation for {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts.Photo} and
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts.DisplayPhoto} contain examples of
retrieving photo information. There is no convenience class for retrieving the primary
thumbnail for a raw contact, but you can send a query to the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data} table, selecting on the raw contact's
{@link android.provider.BaseColumns#_ID}, the
{@link android.provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Photo#CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE
Photo.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE}, and the {@link android.provider.ContactsContract.Data#IS_PRIMARY}
column to find the raw contact's primary photo row.
</p>
<p>
Social stream data for a person may also include photos. These are stored in the
android.provider.ContactsContract.StreamItemPhotos table, which is described in more
detail in the section <a href="#StreamPhotos">Social stream photos</a>.
</p>