kony.contact Namespace

The kony.contact namspace, which is a part of the Phone API, provides the following API elements:

kony.contact Functions

The kony.contact namespace contains the following functions:

NOTE: The runtime permissions are applicable only in the iOS and Android platforms.

This API adds a contact to the address book of the mobile device.

Syntax

kony.contact.add(contactDetails);

Input Parameters

contactDetails [Table] - Mandatory

A table that has the following key-value pairs.

 
KeyDescription
firstname specifies the first name of the contact
lastname specifies the last name of the contact
phone

array of arrays containing Label and number

NOTE: The phone number can contain a + (for country code), - (hyphen) (to separate country code, STD code, and the number), and space ((to separate country code, STD code, and the number). No other characters are allowed within a phone number.
For example, +919999999999, +91 99999 99999, or +91-99999-99999.

email array of arrays containing Label and emailID
postal array of arrays containing Label and address in a table with defined keys
company array of arrays containing Label followed by table with company name and title keys
website

array of arrays containing url and type. The possible types for the website key are as follows.

  • Android: home, homepage, work, and others
  • iOS: home, homepage, work, ftp, blog, profile, and others

Example (For website key)


{
    "website": [{
        "url": "www.google.com",
        "type": "homepage"
    }, {
        "url": "www.myblog.com",
        "type": "blog"
    }, {
        "url": "www.kony.com",
        "type": "work"
    }, {
        "url": "www.myprofile.com",
        "type": "profile"
    }, {
        "url": "www.facebook.com",
        "type": "profile"
    }]
}

NOTE: firstname and phone fields are mandatory with at least one phone number in phone field

The following are the Labels for different fields in the table:

Keys in the TablePossible Labels
phone•Mobile •Home •Work •Other
email•Home •Work •Other
postal•Home •Work •Other
company•Work •Other
 

Example


//Contact Details.
var mycontact = {
    firstname: "John",
    lastname: "Steve",
    phone: [{
        name: "mobile",
        number: "9999999999"
    }, {
        name: "home",
        number: "9999999999"
    }],
    email: [{
        name: "home",
        id: "abc@yahoo.com"
    }, {
        name: "work",
        id: "def@kony.com"
    }],
    postal: [{
        name: "home",
        street: "Raheja",
        city: "hyderabad",
        state: "AP",
        zipcode: "500310"
    }],
    company: [{
        name: "work",
        company: "kony",
        title: "architect"
    }]
};
//Adding the contact to your device.
kony.contact.add(mycontact);
this.view.lblDevContact.text = "Contact is added with firstname = 'John' and lastname = 'Steve' . Please Check the device contacts.";

Return Values

The following are the return values for this API:

Return ValueDescription
Reference [Table] Table containing the information related to the newly created contact is returned.
nilIf the contact was not created.
 

Error Codes

If any of the field is not stored, the field is ignored. If no field is stored, an error is raised.

Implementation Details

The following are the implementation details:

  • firstname and phone field with empty string or nil does not create a contact and the API call is ignored.
  • Other fields with empty string or nil or invalid data type assignment are ignored.
  • id field is read only property and must not be modified by the application.

API Usage

When you use this API with Android emulator that uses Android SDK 2.0 and above, you will be prompted to create an account to add contacts.

Creating an account (Google/GMail) is a mandate to add contacts. This is an Android platform limitation.

Ensure that the following permissions are set for Android:

  • READ_CONTACTS
  • WRITE_CONTACTS
  • GET_ACCOUNTS.

You can set these permissions for Android under Manifest Properties in Project Properties -> Native App -> Android. For more information about Android Manifest permissions, see Quantum VisualizerUser Guide.

Platform Availability

  • iOS
  • Android

This API displays the details of a given contact and returns a new instance of the contact structure.

The API is introduced to improve the performance and for effective utilization of memory. In platforms like Android, contact information is stored in multiple database tables, one table contains the contact id, first name, and lastname, and the another table contains the entire contact details. The contacts application displays only firstname, lastname in the initial screen, and when the user selects a particular contact, the details are shown in next screen.

When you to accommodate the contact details in one call to contact.find API, the memory is not sufficient when the contacts are numerous. This results in an out of memory issue and results in performance issues in many applications.

Syntax

kony.contact.details(ReferenceTable);

Input Parameters

Parameter Description
ReferenceTable - Mandatory Specifies the reference table returned by the contact.find API

Example


//Use the below function to retrieve the contact details.
getDetails: function() {
    //Finding the contact whose details are to be retrieved.
    var findContacts = kony.contact.find("John");
    if (findContacts === null || findContacts === "" || findContacts === undefined) {
        this.view.lblDevContact.text = "No contacts with the first name is 'John' ";
    } else {
        //Retrieving the contact details.
        var a = kony.contact.details(findContacts);
        this.view.lblDevContact.text = a;
    }

}

Return Values

Return Value Description
Reference [Table] Table of the contacts retrieved. The reference table retrieved contains a field photorawbytes. This is a new property in the existing contact structure that should be populated with raw bytes, just like camera or gallery raw bytes.
nil If no contact is retrieved.
 

Example of the reference table returned:


{
 firstname = "John", middleName = "Cena"
lastname = "Xyz",

//array of arrays containing "Label" and "number"
phone = {
    {
        name = "mobile", number = "99999999999"
    },


    ////array of arrays containing "Label" and "emailid"
    {
        name = "home", number = "99999999999"
    }, {
        name = "home", number = "5555555555"
    }, .....
},
email = {
    {
        name = "home", id = "abc@yahoo.com"
    }, {
        name = "work", id = "def@kony.com"
    }, ....
},

////array of arrays containing "Label" and address in a table with 
defined keys.

postal = {
    name = "home", street = "ABC", city = "hyderabad", state = "AP", zipcode = "500310"
}, {
    name = "work", street = "XYZ", city = "hyderabad", state = "AP", zipcode = "500010"
}, ...
},

//array of arrays containing "Label" followed by table with company name 
and title keys.
company = {
    {
        name = "work", company = "kony", title = "Tester"
    }, {
        name = "other", company = "abc", title = "VP"
    }, ...
},
id = "platform specific identifier for the contact"
photorawbytes = rawbytes
}

Platform Availability

Available on all platforms except Desktop Web.

This API parses through the address book of the mobile device and looks for contacts that match the input string.

Syntax

kony.contact.find(firstName, needdetails, filterKeys);

Input Parameters

Parameter Description
firstName [String] - Mandatory A string that represents the firstname of the contact.
needdetails [Boolean] - Optional When the needdetails parameter is not passed, the default value is true. When needdetails is set to true, this API returns the complete details of the contact. If needdetails is false, contact.find returns a list of contacts with a new field called displayname in the existing contact structure. All other fields of contact structure are not populated. displayname is a combination of firstname, middlename, and lastname.
filterKeys [Array of strings] - Optional You can use the filterKeys parameter to filter your search by passing any of the available keys of this parameter. If filterKeys is specified and needDetails is false, only the display name is returned. The available filter keys are as follows: "firstname", "lastname", "phone", "postal", "email", "company", "photorawbytes", "displayname", and "id". The following platform-specific keys are available for the filterKeys parameter:
  • For Android: "middlename"

Example


//Finding the contact whose details are to be retrieved.
var findContacts = kony.contact.find("John");

Return Values

Return Value Description
Reference [Object] Table containing the list of all the contacts that contain the input string
nil If there is no contact with the specified first name
 

Implementation Details

This API searches and matches only the contacts that have the firstname as the specified input string.

Platform Availability

Available on all platforms except Desktop Web.

This API deletes the contact (s) that was returned by the contact.find operation.

Syntax

kony.contact.remove(ReferenceTable);

Input Parameters

Parameter Description
ReferenceTable - Mandatory Specifies the reference table returned by the contact.find API
 

Example


var array = kony.contact.find('John', false);
kony.contact.remove(array);

Return Values

Return ValueDescription
Reference [Table]Table of the contacts that is deleted
nilIf there is no contact with the specified first name
 

Platform Availability

Available on all platforms except Desktop Web.