Unable to Save Contact using Xamarin.Mobile Component in Xamarin.Android

Question

I am using this Xamarin.Mobile component in Xamarin.Android project. After a lot of googling and going through their samples, i found only the way to retrieve the contacts from phone to my app.

Below is my code:

        AddressBook book = new AddressBook(context)
            {
                    PreferContactAggregation = true
            };



        Phone ph = new Phone(){
        Type = PhoneType.Mobile,
        Number = "9952429044"
        };

       Contact ct = new Contact()
        {
            DisplayName = "Sai Ram",
            FirstName = "Om",
            MiddleName = "Sai",
            LastName = "Ram",
            Phones = new List<Phone>(){ph}
        };

I need to save the Contact object to the phone's addressbook. I can't find any methods like book.Save(contact) in Xamarin.Contacts.

Artur Shamsutdinov · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-16T10:32:17.413

Xamarin.Mobile has API only for reading contacts, not for adding.

EDIT

Here is short sample of how to add new contact with mobile number to your contacts.

List<ContentProviderOperation> ops = new List<ContentProviderOperation>();
int rawContactInsertIndex = ops.Count;

ops.Add(ContentProviderOperation.NewInsert(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts.ContentUri)
    .WithValue(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts.InterfaceConsts.AccountType, null)
    .WithValue(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.RawContacts.InterfaceConsts.AccountName, null).Build());
ops.Add(ContentProviderOperation
    .NewInsert(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.Data.ContentUri)
    .WithValueBackReference(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.Data.InterfaceConsts.RawContactId,rawContactInsertIndex)
    .WithValue(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.Data.InterfaceConsts.Mimetype, Android.Provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.ContentItemType)
    .WithValue(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.DisplayName, "Vikas Patidar") // Name of the person
    .Build());
ops.Add(ContentProviderOperation
    .NewInsert(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.Data.ContentUri)
    .WithValueBackReference(
        ContactsContract.Data.InterfaceConsts.RawContactId, rawContactInsertIndex)
    .WithValue(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.Data.InterfaceConsts.Mimetype, Android.Provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.ContentItemType)
    .WithValue(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.Number, "9999999999") // Number of the person
    .WithValue(Android.Provider.ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.InterfaceConsts.Type, "mobile").Build()); // Type of mobile number  

// Asking the Contact provider to create a new contact                 
try {
    ContentResolver.ApplyBatch(ContactsContract.Authority, ops);
} catch (Exception ex) {
    Toast.MakeText(this, "Exception: " + ex.Message, ToastLength.Long).Show();
}

You can find more details about how to save other fields here. Don't forget to add WRITE_CONTACTS permission to your app.

Then, how to add contacts from my app? I have tried the native way to add contacts. But, it fails to save the Display name and it saves only contact number. — sriman reddy, Jun 16 '15 at 09:50
I got a compile issue and had to change the line after try to "Android.App.Application.Context.ContentResolver.ApplyBatch(ContactsContract.Authority, ops);" — stepheaw, Nov 14 '16 at 22:07
@stepheaw it should be `[Context].ContentResolver.ApplyBatch(ContactsContract.Authority, ops);` where `[Context]` is your activity context (i.e. `this` for activities or application context otherwise). So if you run this code from your activity it will work as it is. — Artur Shamsutdinov, Nov 16 '16 at 02:37
@Artur Shamsutdinov That makes more sense now, thank you. Do you have any sample for updating a contact? — stepheaw, Nov 16 '16 at 18:36

Unable to Save Contact using Xamarin.Mobile Component in Xamarin.Android

1 Answers1