How to get VCF data with contact images using CNContactVCardSerialization dataWithContacts: method?

Question

I'm using CNContacts and CNContactUI framework and picking a contact via this

CNContactPickerViewController *contactPicker = [CNContactPickerViewController new];
              contactPicker.delegate = self;
 [self presentViewController:contactPicker animated:YES completion:nil];

and

-(void)contactPicker:(CNContactPickerViewController *)picker didSelectContact:(CNContact *)contact
{
    NSArray *array = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:contact, nil];
    NSError *error;
    NSData *data = [CNContactVCardSerialization dataWithContacts:array error:&error];
    NSLog(@"ERROR_IF_ANY :: %@",error.description);
}

This contact object have contact.imageData and coming in logs. But when I tried to cross check this data by

NSArray *contactList = [NSArray arrayWithArray:[CNContactVCardSerialization contactsWithData:data error:nil]];
CNContact *contactObject = [contactList objectAtIndex:0];

This is getting null:

//contactObject.imageData  

Why am I getting this null and this contact has image when check in contacts?

Answer 1

I'd like to improve upon and modernise for Swift 3 the excellent answer by kudinovdenis.

Just put the following extension into your project

import Foundation
import Contacts

extension CNContactVCardSerialization {
    internal class func vcardDataAppendingPhoto(vcard: Data, photoAsBase64String photo: String) -> Data? {
        let vcardAsString = String(data: vcard, encoding: .utf8)
        let vcardPhoto = "PHOTO;TYPE=JPEG;ENCODING=BASE64:".appending(photo)
        let vcardPhotoThenEnd = vcardPhoto.appending("\nEND:VCARD")
        if let vcardPhotoAppended = vcardAsString?.replacingOccurrences(of: "END:VCARD", with: vcardPhotoThenEnd) {
            return vcardPhotoAppended.data(using: .utf8)
        }
        return nil

    }
    class func data(jpegPhotoContacts: [CNContact]) throws -> Data {
        var overallData = Data()
        for contact in jpegPhotoContacts {
            let data = try CNContactVCardSerialization.data(with: [contact])
            if contact.imageDataAvailable {
                if let base64imageString = contact.imageData?.base64EncodedString(),
                    let updatedData = vcardDataAppendingPhoto(vcard: data, photoAsBase64String: base64imageString) {
                    overallData.append(updatedData)
                }
            } else {
                overallData.append(data)
            }
        }
        return overallData
    }
}

and then you can use it similarly to the existing serialisation method:

CNContactVCardSerialization.data(jpegPhotoContacts: [contact1, contact2])

Note that this takes care of serialisation, you'll need to write a similar method for deserialisation if you are also importing.

Answer 2

As a workaround you can create PHOTO field inside of VCard.

NSError* error = nil;
NSData* vCardData = [CNContactVCardSerialization dataWithContacts:@[contact] error:&error];
NSString* vcString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:vCardData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSString* base64Image = contact.imageData.base64Encoding;
NSString* vcardImageString = [[@"PHOTO;TYPE=JPEG;ENCODING=BASE64:" stringByAppendingString:base64Image] stringByAppendingString:@"\n"];
vcString = [vcString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"END:VCARD" withString:[vcardImageString stringByAppendingString:@"END:VCARD"]];
vCardData = [vcString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

For some reasons CNContactVCardSerialization does not use any photo of contact. VCard after serialization is looks like:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//iPhone OS 9.3.2//EN
N:Contact;Test;;;
FN: Test  Contact 
END:VCARD

After insertion the PHOTO field inside VCard you will get

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
PRODID:-//Apple Inc.//iPhone OS 9.3.2//EN
N:Contact;Test;;;
FN: Test  Contact 
PHOTO;TYPE=JPEG;ENCODING=BASE64:<photo base64 string>
END:VCARD

After this insertion contact will looks fine in CNContactViewController

Answer 3

For N number of contacts, you can add image data into VCF by using simple method as below.

-(NSData*)getVCFDataWithImagesFromContacts:(NSArray*)arrContacts
{
//---- Convert contacts array into VCF data.
    NSError *error;
    NSData *vcfData = [CNContactVCardSerialization dataWithContacts:arrContacts error:&error];


    //--- Convert VCF data into string.
    NSString *strVCF = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:vcfData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

    //--- Split contacts from VCF.
    NSMutableArray *arrSplit = (NSMutableArray*)[strVCF componentsSeparatedByString:@"END:VCARD"];
    [arrSplit removeLastObject];//-- if object is "\r\n" otherwise comment this line.

    //--- Validate array count
    if (arrSplit.count == arrContacts.count)
    {
        for (int index=0;index<arrContacts.count;index++)
        {
            //--- Get current contact and VCF contact string.
            CNContact *contact = arrContacts[index];
            NSString *strContact = arrSplit[index];

            //--- Get base64 string of image.
            NSString* base64Image = [UIImagePNGRepresentation([ViewController imageWithImage:[UIImage imageWithData:contact.imageData] scaledToSize:CGSizeMake(50,50)]) base64EncodedStringWithOptions:NSDataBase64EncodingEndLineWithCarriageReturn];

            //--- Append image tag into contact string.
            NSString* vcardImageString = [[@"PHOTO;ENCODING=BASE64;JPEG:" stringByAppendingString:base64Image] stringByAppendingString:@"\r\n"];
        strContact = [strContact stringByAppendingString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@",vcardImageString,@"END:VCARD\r\n"]];

            //--- Update contact string from array.
            [arrSplit replaceObjectAtIndex:index withObject:strContact];
            NSLog(@"strContact :%@",strContact);
        }
    }

    //--- Combine all contacts together in VCF.
    vcfData =  [[arrSplit componentsJoinedByString:@""] dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    strVCF = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:vcfData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];//--- VCF Data

    NSLog(@"Contact VCF error :%@",error.localizedDescription);

    return vcfData;
}


+(UIImage *)imageWithImage:(UIImage *)image scaledToSize:(CGSize)newSize
{
   UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(newSize, NO, 0.0);
   [image drawInRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, newSize.width, newSize.height)];
   UIImage *newImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
   UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
   return newImage;
}