Custom addressbook for ABPeoplePickerNavigationController on iPhone

Question

I am trying to create a custom addressbook on the iPhone by adding new records to the device address book (basically, merging a private contact list with the device AB). I then want to let the user select a contact, which I thought I could do with the .addressbook property of ABPeoplePickerNavigationController:

ABAddressBookRef contacts = ABAddressBookCreate();

for (PrivateUserType *user in rosterItems)
{
  CFErrorRef err = NULL;
  ABRecordRef ref = ABPersonCreate();
  ABRecordSetValue(ref, kABPersonLastNameProperty, (CFStringRef)user.lastName, &err);

  if (err != NULL)
  {
    NSString *errorStr = [(NSString *)CFErrorCopyDescription(err) autorelease];
    NSLog(@"Can not set name: %@", errorStr);
  }

  ...

  ABAddressBookAddRecord(contacts, ref, &err);
  if (err != NULL)
  {
    NSString *errorStr = [(NSString *)CFErrorCopyDescription(err) autorelease];
    NSLog(@"Error adding XMPP roster user to addressbook: %@", errorStr);
  }
}

ABPeoplePickerNavigationController *picker = [[ABPeoplePickerNavigationController alloc] init];
picker.addressBook = contacts;
[viewController presentModalViewController:picker animated:YES];
[picker release];

The entries are successfully added to the addressbook (which I can verify if I do an ABAddressBookSave() after the loop to add everything in). However, the entries are not shown by picker (unless I save contacts, which of course saves all changes into the device addressbook).

Is there a way to do this? This is on iOS 4.3.1.

Thanks!

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 13 '11 at 10:27

As Toro said, you need save any changes to database first. ABPeoplePickerNavigationController not intended to work with uncommit data or with custom data.

You can see rather fresh topic on Apple Dev Forums https://devforums.apple.com/message/370070#370070 where similar question was asked. And guy from Apple says that "I can't see any way to do this." But he suggest filling a bug for this to implement this feature in future release of iOS.

All you can do now is code your own UI for this AddressBook from the ground :(

updated: he-he. I found your question on App Dev Forum too )))

Thanks for the answer. I had pretty much figured that was the case, but was hoping for something else. Ah well. Thanks.. — Jeff Hay, Apr 13 '11 at 21:26

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 13 '11 at 08:53

0

You need to save any changes to database by ABAddressBookSave() method.

The apple doc link.

answered Apr 13 '11 at 08:53

AechoLiu

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Yeah, I know it works with ABAddressBookSave(), but was hoping to not use that. Thanks for the help, though. – Jeff Hay Apr 13 '11 at 21:26
If you want to show those contacts under unsave manner, you need to use ABRecordRef instead. You can browse information in those ABRecordRef. But until ABAddressBookSave() to db, those ABRecordRef has no valid record id. Because they are not saved into db. – AechoLiu Apr 14 '11 at 02:03

Custom addressbook for ABPeoplePickerNavigationController on iPhone

2 Answers2