How to show custom type contact inside Contact like WhatsApp android

Question

/**
     * Account type id
     */
    public static final String ACCOUNT_TYPE = "com.test.app";

    /**
     * Account name
     */
    public static final String ACCOUNT_NAME = "Test";

public static void addContact(Context context, User contact) {
        ContentResolver resolver = context.getContentResolver();
        resolver.delete(RawContacts.CONTENT_URI, RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE
                + " = ?", new String[] { AccountConstants.ACCOUNT_TYPE });

        ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation> ops = new ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation>();

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(
                        addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(
                                RawContacts.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValue(RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME,
                        AccountConstants.ACCOUNT_NAME)
                .withValue(RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE,
                        AccountConstants.ACCOUNT_TYPE)
                // .withValue(RawContacts.SOURCE_ID, 12345)
                // .withValue(RawContacts.AGGREGATION_MODE,
                // RawContacts.AGGREGATION_MODE_DISABLED)
                .build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(
                        addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(Settings.CONTENT_URI,
                                true))
                .withValue(RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME,
                        AccountConstants.ACCOUNT_NAME)
                .withValue(RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE,
                        AccountConstants.ACCOUNT_TYPE)
                .withValue(Settings.UNGROUPED_VISIBLE, 1).build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(
                        addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(Data.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValueBackReference(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
                .withValue(Data.MIMETYPE, StructuredName.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                .withValue(StructuredName.GIVEN_NAME, contact.getFullname())
                .withValue(StructuredName.FAMILY_NAME, contact.getFullname())
                .build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(
                        addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(Data.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValueBackReference(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
                .withValue(
                        ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
                        ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER,
                        contact.getPhoneNumber()).build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(
                        addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(Data.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValueBackReference(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
                .withValue(
                        ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
                        ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.DATA,
                        contact.getEmail()).build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(
                        addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(Data.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValueBackReference(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
                .withValue(Data.MIMETYPE, MIMETYPE)
                .withValue(Data.DATA1, contact.getFullname())
                .withValue(Data.DATA2, contact.getEmail())
                .withValue(Data.DATA3, contact.getHomeAddress()).build());
        try {
            ContentProviderResult[] results = resolver.applyBatch(
                    ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
            if (results.length == 0)
                AppLog.d(TAG, "Failed to add.");
        } catch (Exception e) {
            AppLog.e(TAG, e.getMessage(), e);
        }
    }

Problem - Currently the code is adding new contact but not merging it into existing contact based on Phone number. Is there anything I have to do before adding the contact? I would like to display my app account inside Contact same as Whats App.

I have implemented SyncService, SyncAdapter, Authenticator, contacts.xml and other classes required for the project. The only thing not working is showing contact inside the default Contact app instead of creating new contact.

<ContactsSource xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <ContactsDataKind
        android:detailColumn="data2"
        android:detailSocialSummary="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:mimeType="vnd.android.cursor.item/com.test.app"
        android:summaryColumn="data3" />

</ContactsSource>

Acreage

developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/… section "Custom data rows" – Wan

Could be able to achieve this ? I'm looking for the same solution! – Forgo

@Acreage I am looking for the same solution, can you help me out? – Hasdrubal

Answer 1

I had the same problem on Android 6.1 and as I heard, this issue is present since Lollipop. Every implementation on the web shows that the contact matching should work based on phone number. And it works on earlier systems - I tried it on KitKat and it works like a charm. But since Android 5.0 contacts don't match somehow.

Fortunately phone number is not the only parameter the matching depends on - there is also displayname. So the working implementation should look like this:

// as displayName pass the retrieved   ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME

@Override
public void addContact(@Nonnull final String displayName, @Nonnull final String phone) {

    final ContentResolver resolver = context.getContentResolver();

        final ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation> ops = new ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation>();

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(ContactsContract.RawContacts.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME, ACCOUNT_NAME)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE, ACCOUNT_TYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.AGGREGATION_MODE,
                        ContactsContract.RawContacts.AGGREGATION_MODE_DEFAULT)
                .build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER, phone)
                .build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                    .newInsert(addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI, true))
                    .withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
                    .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
                            ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                    .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.DISPLAY_NAME, displayName)
                    .build());

        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation
                .newInsert(addCallerIsSyncAdapterParameter(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI, true))
                .withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 0)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, YOUR_MIMETYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.DATA1, 12345)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.DATA2, "user")
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.DATA3, "action")
                .build());

        try {
            resolver.applyBatch(ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

I left the phoneNumber in case the contact doesn't have any displayname - then it would at least match on earlier Android versions.

Spooky

this is for adding a new Contact..... but i want to update existing contact with my new mimetype(icon).... how can i achieve that??? any help... Thank you..... – Dorise

It is actually adding a account with your mimetype. It would be shown just like the whatsapp example - as another account type but within the same contact – Spooky