Accessing iOS Address Book with Swift: array count of zero

Question

I am trying to write a simple method to ask a user for access to their address book and then print out the name of each person in the address book. I've seen a number of tutorials explaining how to do this in objective-C, but am having a hard time converting them to swift.

Here's what I've done so far. The below block runs in my viewDidLoad() method and checks to see whether the user has authorized access to the address book or not, if they have not authorized access yet, the first if-statement will ask for access. This section works as expected.

var emptyDictionary: CFDictionaryRef?

var addressBook: ABAddressBookRef?

        if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.NotDetermined)
        {
            println("requesting access...")
            addressBook = !ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(emptyDictionary,nil)
            ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(addressBook,{success, error in
            if success {
                self.getContactNames();
            }
            else
            {
                println("error")
            }
        })
    }
        }
        else if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.Denied || ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.Restricted)
        {
            println("access denied")
        }
        else if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.Authorized)
        {
            println("access granted")
            getContactNames()
        }

Once I know the user has granted access, I run the getContactNames() method which is below. After much back and forth, I was finally able to get this to compile by adding the takeRetainedValue() method in order to convert the array returned by ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople from an unmanaged array to a managed array, this then allows me to convert the CFArrayRef to an NSArray.

The issue I'm running into is that the contactList array ends up having a count of 0 and the for loop therefore gets skipped. In my simulator, the address book has 6 or 7 records, so I would expect the array to be of that length. Any ideas?

func getContactNames()
    {
        addressBook = !ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(emptyDictionary,nil)
        var contactList: NSArray = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook).takeRetainedValue()
        println("records in the array \(contactList.count)") // returns 0

        for record:ABRecordRef in contactList {
            var contactPerson: ABRecordRef = record
            var contactName: String = ABRecordCopyCompositeName(contactPerson).takeRetainedValue()
            println ("contactName \(contactName)")
        }
    }

One additional point - if I use the ABAddressBookGetPersonCount method, it returns -1.

 var count: CFIndex = ABAddressBookGetPersonCount(addressBook);
        println("records in the array \(count)") // returns -1

Based on this link ABAddressBookGetPersonCount returns -1 in iOS, it seems that this function returning -1 could be related to permission not being granted, but I definitely have asked for permission in the code above (and granted it when I run the app in the simulator)

Monofilament

Have you tried this https://mcmap.net/q/389837/-abaddressbookgetauthorizationstatus-in-simulator-always-returns-kabauthorizationstatusauthorized ? – Reticent

Thanks, I actually did come across that earlier but didn't solve my problem. The above allows you to reset the authorization that you've granted the app in order to test that part of the app. – Monofilament

do you have some advance with address book? – Kearse

Is addressBook getting any value at all? I'm guessing ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions() is failing somehow. – Trass

John, I think you're probably right. Looking in the debugger after the "ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions()" method is run in getContactNames() method shows "addressBook = (Swift.bool)false, value = (Builtin.int1)0" – Monofilament

For those still looking I've just added working solution you can copy & use. – Lanta

Answer 1

This is now all much simpler. The chief thing to watch out for is that if you create an ABAddressBook without authorization, you get an evil address book - it isn't nil but it isn't good for anything either. Here's how I currently recommend that you set up authorization status and request authorization if necessary:

var adbk : ABAddressBook!

func createAddressBook() -> Bool {
    if self.adbk != nil {
        return true
    }
    var err : Unmanaged<CFError>? = nil
    let adbk : ABAddressBook? = ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil, &err).takeRetainedValue()
    if adbk == nil {
        println(err)
        self.adbk = nil
        return false
    }
    self.adbk = adbk
    return true
}

func determineStatus() -> Bool {
    let status = ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus()
    switch status {
    case .Authorized:
        return self.createAddressBook()
    case .NotDetermined:
        var ok = false
        ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(nil) {
            (granted:Bool, err:CFError!) in
            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
                if granted {
                    ok = self.createAddressBook()
                }
            }
        }
        if ok == true {
            return true
        }
        self.adbk = nil
        return false
    case .Restricted:
        self.adbk = nil
        return false
    case .Denied:
        self.adbk = nil
        return false
    }
}

And here's how to cycle through all persons and print out their names:

func getContactNames() {
    if !self.determineStatus() {
        println("not authorized")
        return
    }
    let people = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(adbk).takeRetainedValue() as NSArray as [ABRecord]
    for person in people {
        println(ABRecordCopyCompositeName(person).takeRetainedValue())
    }
}

Tolerant

Thanks for this answer - seems to work, but only when I step through in the debugger. When I run it without any breakpoints, I get a "no access" message in the debug console. Any ideas on why this is happening? – Roadrunner

@Roadrunner My code wasn't very well written to deal with the asynchronous nature of the authorization process. The real problem here is that we want to avoid using the "bad" address book that you get if you're not authorized; this calls for some special precautions. I've revised my code to show what I do now. – Tolerant

Thanks, Matt - seems to fix it. Still needed to call the authorizeAddressBook() function, though, before calling getContactNames to get it to work. – Roadrunner

How can I get the contact number and email address along with name – Adventuress

Answer 2

There seems to be a bug either with the compiler or the framework where ABAddressBookRef is declared a typealias of AnyObject, but it needs to be NSObject in order to unwrap it from the Unmanaged<ABAddressBookRef>! returned by ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions. A workaround is to convert it to and from an opaque C pointer. The following code works, but it should probably be doing a lot more error checking (and there is also probably a better way of working around this issue):

var addressBook: ABAddressBookRef?

func extractABAddressBookRef(abRef: Unmanaged<ABAddressBookRef>!) -> ABAddressBookRef? {
    if let ab = abRef {
        return Unmanaged<NSObject>.fromOpaque(ab.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue()
    }
    return nil
}

func test() {
    if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.NotDetermined) {
        println("requesting access...")
        var errorRef: Unmanaged<CFError>? = nil
        addressBook = extractABAddressBookRef(ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil, &errorRef))
        ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(addressBook, { success, error in
            if success {
                self.getContactNames()
            }
            else {
                println("error")
            }
        })
    }
    else if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.Denied || ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.Restricted) {
        println("access denied")
    }
    else if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == ABAuthorizationStatus.Authorized) {
        println("access granted")
        self.getContactNames()
    }
}

func getContactNames() {
    var errorRef: Unmanaged<CFError>?
    addressBook = extractABAddressBookRef(ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil, &errorRef))
    var contactList: NSArray = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook).takeRetainedValue()
    println("records in the array \(contactList.count)")

    for record:ABRecordRef in contactList {
        var contactPerson: ABRecordRef = record
        var contactName: String = ABRecordCopyCompositeName(contactPerson).takeRetainedValue() as NSString
        println ("contactName \(contactName)")
    }
}

Actinomycosis

Thanks! Seems to work! However, could you maybe elaborate on the "but it should probably be doing a lot more error checking"? Is this a "future proof" solution, if not what are points to take into account for future Swift releases? – Oxyacid

Brilliant solution, but now fortunately unnecessary, as ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions now returns an Unmanaged<ABAddressBook>! which you can just takeRetainedValue() directly. – Tolerant

Answer 3

For those looking for the complete working solution, here is how to print out only the contact names, modifying the above code. Invoke getAddressBookNames() to access the address book, e.g. in the viewDidLoad() method.

func getAddressBookNames() {
    let authorizationStatus = ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus()
    if (authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.NotDetermined)
    {
        NSLog("requesting access...")
        var emptyDictionary: CFDictionaryRef?
        var addressBook = !ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(emptyDictionary, nil)
        ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(addressBook,{success, error in
            if success {
                self.getContactNames();
            }
            else {
                NSLog("unable to request access")
            }
        })
    }
    else if (authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.Denied || authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.Restricted) {
        NSLog("access denied")
    }
    else if (authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.Authorized) {
        NSLog("access granted")
        getContactNames()
    }
}

func getContactNames()
{
    var errorRef: Unmanaged<CFError>?
    var addressBook: ABAddressBookRef? = extractABAddressBookRef(ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil, &errorRef))

    var contactList: NSArray = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook).takeRetainedValue()
    println("number of contacts: \(contactList.count)")

    for record:ABRecordRef in contactList {
        var contactName: String = ABRecordCopyCompositeName(record).takeRetainedValue() as NSString
        NSLog("contactName: \(contactName)")
    }
}

func extractABAddressBookRef(abRef: Unmanaged<ABAddressBookRef>!) -> ABAddressBookRef? {
    if let ab = abRef {
        return Unmanaged<NSObject>.fromOpaque(ab.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue()
    }
    return nil
}

And here is the complete code to access the contact names and emails - this is done using the helper methods defined in some of the other answers.

func getAddressBookNames() {
    let authorizationStatus = ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus()
    if (authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.NotDetermined)
    {
        NSLog("requesting access...")
        var emptyDictionary: CFDictionaryRef?
        var addressBook = !ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(emptyDictionary, nil)
        ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(addressBook,{success, error in
            if success {
                self.processContactNames();
            }
            else {
                NSLog("unable to request access")
            }
        })
    }
    else if (authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.Denied || authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.Restricted) {
        NSLog("access denied")
    }
    else if (authorizationStatus == ABAuthorizationStatus.Authorized) {
        NSLog("access granted")
        processContactNames()
    }
}

func processContactNames()
{
    var errorRef: Unmanaged<CFError>?
    var addressBook: ABAddressBookRef? = extractABAddressBookRef(ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil, &errorRef))

    var contactList: NSArray = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook).takeRetainedValue()
    println("records in the array \(contactList.count)")

    for record:ABRecordRef in contactList {
        processAddressbookRecord(record)
    }
}

func processAddressbookRecord(addressBookRecord: ABRecordRef) {
    var contactName: String = ABRecordCopyCompositeName(addressBookRecord).takeRetainedValue() as NSString
    NSLog("contactName: \(contactName)")
    processEmail(addressBookRecord)
}

func processEmail(addressBookRecord: ABRecordRef) {
    let emailArray:ABMultiValueRef = extractABEmailRef(ABRecordCopyValue(addressBookRecord, kABPersonEmailProperty))!
    for (var j = 0; j < ABMultiValueGetCount(emailArray); ++j) {
        var emailAdd = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(emailArray, j)
        var myString = extractABEmailAddress(emailAdd)
        NSLog("email: \(myString!)")
    }
}

func extractABAddressBookRef(abRef: Unmanaged<ABAddressBookRef>!) -> ABAddressBookRef? {
    if let ab = abRef {
        return Unmanaged<NSObject>.fromOpaque(ab.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue()
    }
    return nil
}

func extractABEmailRef (abEmailRef: Unmanaged<ABMultiValueRef>!) -> ABMultiValueRef? {
    if let ab = abEmailRef {
        return Unmanaged<NSObject>.fromOpaque(ab.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue()
    }
    return nil
}

func extractABEmailAddress (abEmailAddress: Unmanaged<AnyObject>!) -> String? {
    if let ab = abEmailAddress {
        return Unmanaged.fromOpaque(abEmailAddress.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue() as CFStringRef
    }
    return nil
}

Lanta

i have an error with this line: return Unmanaged.fromOpaque(abEmailAddress.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue() as CFStringRef just had to change the cast "as NSString". Work good tks – Filiano

Using NSLog("email: (myString)") give me this result "optional ([email protected])" for each mail. What should i do to make an array containing only the [email protected] ? – Filiano

@Filiano Just add a !. So, in the function processEmail(...) change NSLog("email: \(myString)") to NSLog("email: \(myString!)") – Centi

Thanks @jmcastel, added this fix to the example. – Lanta

In this code I found the ABRecordCopyCompositeName(addressBookRecord) call can return nil which caused a crash. – Kalila

Answer 4

If anyone is also trying to get the email addresses of the contacts, I found that I needed to create two additional methods similar to the new one Wes showed.

Here's the updated version of the getContactNames() function:

 func getContactNames()
    {
        var errorRef: Unmanaged<CFError>?
        addressBook = extractABAddressBookRef(ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil, &errorRef))

        var contactList: NSArray = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook).takeRetainedValue()
        println("records in the array \(contactList.count)")

        for record:ABRecordRef in contactList {
            var contactPerson: ABRecordRef = record

            var contactName: String = ABRecordCopyCompositeName(contactPerson).takeRetainedValue() as NSString
            println ("contactName \(contactName)")

            var emailArray:ABMultiValueRef = extractABEmailRef(ABRecordCopyValue(contactPerson, kABPersonEmailProperty))!

            for (var j = 0; j < ABMultiValueGetCount(emailArray); ++j)
            {
                var emailAdd = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(emailArray, j)
                var myString = extractABEmailAddress(emailAdd)
                println("email: \(myString)")
            }
        }
    }

And here are the two additional functions I created:

  func extractABEmailRef (abEmailRef: Unmanaged<ABMultiValueRef>!) -> ABMultiValueRef? {
        if let ab = abEmailRef {
            return Unmanaged<NSObject>.fromOpaque(ab.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue()
        }
        return nil
    }

func extractABEmailAddress (abEmailAddress: Unmanaged<AnyObject>!) -> String? {
    if let ab = abEmailAddress {
        return Unmanaged.fromOpaque(abEmailAddress.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue() as CFStringRef
    }
    return nil
}

Thanks again to Wes for his help on my initial question which helped me figure the above out.

Monofilament

Very bad formatted code. Also you have a duplicated code. – Goofball

Answer 5

If you need email additionally to matt's answer:

func getContacts() {
    if !self.determineStatus() {
        println("not authorized")
    }
    let people = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(adbk).takeRetainedValue() as NSArray as [ABRecord]
    for person in people {
        // Name
        let name = ABRecordCopyCompositeName(person).takeRetainedValue()

        // Email
        let emails: ABMultiValueRef = ABRecordCopyValue(person, kABPersonEmailProperty).takeRetainedValue()
        for (var i = 0; i < ABMultiValueGetCount(emails); i++) {
            let email: String = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(emails, i).takeRetainedValue() as String
            println("email=\(email)")
        }
    }
}

Goofball

Answer 6

This is an old question, but another answer may still be useful: I made an approach to solve the problems with address book in swift here: https://github.com/SocialbitGmbH/SwiftAddressBook

I should mention that there are many wrappers for ABAddressBook out there which can help you avoid issues like the one you asked about entirely. Thus I consider the link an "answer" to the problem (though it is not answering how to fix your code)

Bouie

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review – Galvano

You are right, although I did not want to repeat what the others said. I have created the wrapper (although it is owned by my company) to avoid the hassle for other users of actually fixing the problem themselves. – Bouie

Answer 7

To add to the info here, this is my solution pieced together from various places (is there a good Apple site that really describes this, the docs I've found basically provide almost nothing more than what the names of args/members are):

        let addrBook = ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil,nil).takeRetainedValue()
        let contacts = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addrBook).takeRetainedValue() as NSArray as [ABRecordRef]
        for contact in contacts {
            let fname = ABRecordCopyValue(contact, kABPersonFirstNameProperty).takeRetainedValue() as! NSString
            let lname = ABRecordCopyValue(contact, kABPersonLastNameProperty).takeRetainedValue() as! NSString
            let name = String(fname) + " " + String(lname)
            var image:UIImage? = nil
            if ABPersonHasImageData(contact) {
                image = UIImage(data: ABPersonCopyImageDataWithFormat(contact, kABPersonImageFormatThumbnail).takeRetainedValue() as NSData)
            }
            if let emailRefs: ABMultiValueRef = ABRecordCopyValue(contact, kABPersonEmailProperty).takeRetainedValue() {

                let nEmailsForContact = ABMultiValueGetCount(emailRefs)
                if  nEmailsForContact > 0 {
                    if let emailArray: NSArray = ABMultiValueCopyArrayOfAllValues(emailRefs).takeRetainedValue() as NSArray {

                        for emailW in emailArray {
                            let email = String(emailW)
                            if email.containsString("@") {
                                let c: EmailContact = EmailContact(n: name, e: email, a: false, i: image)
                                mEmailContacts.append(c)
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

Oddly, you have to check to make sure there is an image if you want to access it; and you have to check that there is at least one email for a contact before trying to extract them (why doesn't it just return an empty list instead???).

The 'EmailContact" class is something that I made to capture the results, its not shown but the code snippet does show how to extract the info for the current version of swift/ios.

Also, I note that web site settings seem to come up in the EmailArray for contacts as well as actual emails. For now I just check for an "@" sign to determine if its really an email, but is there a better or 'official' way to do that?

Finally, hopefully this is memory leak safe.

Oh, of course this is done after getting permission, if you are not sure how to do that then this site is good: http://www.raywenderlich.com/63885/address-book-tutorial-in-ios

Butyraceous

Answer 8

Other answers provided here were useful, and guided this answer, but had errors and/or were not updated for Swift 3. The following class provides a number of simplifications and safety improvements.

Usage is simply to call AddressBookService.getContactNames

There are good reasons to still need to use the ABAddressBook framework, as CNContact does not provide some key data, including creation and modification dates for instance. The deprecated method warnings are somewhat distracting when working with the code, so this code suppresses the warnings that the ABAddressBook methods were deprecated from iOS 9 onwards, instead providing just a single warning to this effect wherever you call the class below.

//
//  AddressBookService.swift
//

import AddressBook

@available(iOS, deprecated: 9.0)
class AddressBookService: NSObject {

    class func getContactNames() {
        let authorizationStatus = ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus()

        switch authorizationStatus {
        case .authorized:
            retrieveContactNames()
            break

        case .notDetermined:
            print("Requesting Address Book access...")
            let addressBook = AddressBookService.addressBook
            ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(addressBook, {success, error in
                if success {
                    print("Address book access granted")
                    retrieveContactNames()
                }
                else {
                    print("Unable to obtain Address Book access.")
                }
            })
            break

        case .restricted, .denied:
            print("Address book access denied")
            break
        }
    }

    private class func retrieveContactNames() {
        let addressBook = ABAddressBookCreate().takeRetainedValue()
        let contactList = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook).takeRetainedValue() as NSArray as [ABRecord]

        for (index, record) in contactList.enumerated() {
            if let contactName = ABRecordCopyCompositeName(record)?.takeRetainedValue() as String? {
                print("Contact \(index): \(contactName))")
            }
        }
    }
}

Ostrogoth

Answer 9

Not the best solution but until I find this work

let records = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(self.addressBook).takeRetainedValue() 
              as NSArray as [ABRecord]
sleep(2)
println(records.count);

Calycle