ContactsContract.Data

Class Overview

Constants for the data table, which contains data points tied to a raw contact. Each row of the data table is typically used to store a single piece of contact information (such as a phone number) and its associated metadata (such as whether it is a work or home number).

Data kinds

Data is a generic table that can hold any kind of contact data. The kind of data stored in a given row is specified by the row's MIMETYPE value, which determines the meaning of the generic columns DATA1 through DATA15. For example, if the data kind is Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE, then the column DATA1 stores the phone number, but if the data kind is Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE, then DATA1 stores the email address. Sync adapters and applications can introduce their own data kinds.

ContactsContract defines a small number of pre-defined data kinds, e.g. ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email etc. As a convenience, these classes define data kind specific aliases for DATA1 etc. For example, Phone.NUMBER is the same as Data.DATA1.

DATA1 is an indexed column and should be used for the data element that is expected to be most frequently used in query selections. For example, in the case of a row representing email addresses DATA1 should probably be used for the email address itself, while DATA2 etc can be used for auxiliary information like type of email address.

By convention, DATA15 is used for storing BLOBs (binary data).

The sync adapter for a given account type must correctly handle every data type used in the corresponding raw contacts. Otherwise it could result in lost or corrupted data.

Similarly, you should refrain from introducing new kinds of data for an other party's account types. For example, if you add a data row for "favorite song" to a raw contact owned by a Google account, it will not get synced to the server, because the Google sync adapter does not know how to handle this data kind. Thus new data kinds are typically introduced along with new account types, i.e. new sync adapters.

Batch operations

Data rows can be inserted/updated/deleted using the traditional insert(Uri, ContentValues), update(Uri, ContentValues, String, String[]) and delete(Uri, String, String[]) methods, however the newer mechanism based on a batch of ContentProviderOperation will prove to be a better choice in almost all cases. All operations in a batch are executed in a single transaction, which ensures that the phone-side and server-side state of a raw contact are always consistent. Also, the batch-based approach is far more efficient: not only are the database operations faster when executed in a single transaction, but also sending a batch of commands to the content provider saves a lot of time on context switching between your process and the process in which the content provider runs.

The flip side of using batched operations is that a large batch may lock up the database for a long time preventing other applications from accessing data and potentially causing ANRs ("Application Not Responding" dialogs.)

To avoid such lockups of the database, make sure to insert "yield points" in the batch. A yield point indicates to the content provider that before executing the next operation it can commit the changes that have already been made, yield to other requests, open another transaction and continue processing operations. A yield point will not automatically commit the transaction, but only if there is another request waiting on the database. Normally a sync adapter should insert a yield point at the beginning of each raw contact operation sequence in the batch. See withYieldAllowed(boolean).

Operations

Insert

An individual data row can be inserted using the traditional insert(Uri, ContentValues) method. Multiple rows should always be inserted as a batch.

An example of a traditional insert:

 ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
 values.put(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, rawContactId);
 values.put(Data.MIMETYPE, Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE);
 values.put(Phone.NUMBER, "1-800-GOOG-411");
 values.put(Phone.TYPE, Phone.TYPE_CUSTOM);
 values.put(Phone.LABEL, "free directory assistance");
 Uri dataUri = getContentResolver().insert(Data.CONTENT_URI, values);
 

The same done using ContentProviderOperations:

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

 ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(Data.CONTENT_URI)
          .withValue(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, rawContactId)
          .withValue(Data.MIMETYPE, Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
          .withValue(Phone.NUMBER, "1-800-GOOG-411")
          .withValue(Phone.TYPE, Phone.TYPE_CUSTOM)
          .withValue(Phone.LABEL, "free directory assistance")
          .build());
 getContentResolver().applyBatch(ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
 

Update

Just as with insert, update can be done incrementally or as a batch, the batch mode being the preferred method:

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

 ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newUpdate(Data.CONTENT_URI)
          .withSelection(Data._ID + "=?", new String[]{String.valueOf(dataId)})
          .withValue(Email.DATA, "somebody@android.com")
          .build());
 getContentResolver().applyBatch(ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
 

Delete

Just as with insert and update, deletion can be done either using the delete(Uri, String, String[]) method or using a ContentProviderOperation:

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

 ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newDelete(Data.CONTENT_URI)
          .withSelection(Data._ID + "=?", new String[]{String.valueOf(dataId)})
          .build());
 getContentResolver().applyBatch(ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
 

Query

Finding all Data of a given type for a given contact

 Cursor c = getContentResolver().query(Data.CONTENT_URI,
          new String[] {Data._ID, Phone.NUMBER, Phone.TYPE, Phone.LABEL},
          Data.CONTACT_ID + "=?" + " AND "
                  + Data.MIMETYPE + "='" + Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE + "'",
          new String[] {String.valueOf(contactId)}, null);
 

Finding all Data of a given type for a given raw contact

 Cursor c = getContentResolver().query(Data.CONTENT_URI,
          new String[] {Data._ID, Phone.NUMBER, Phone.TYPE, Phone.LABEL},
          Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID + "=?" + " AND "
                  + Data.MIMETYPE + "='" + Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE + "'",
          new String[] {String.valueOf(rawContactId)}, null);
 

Finding all Data for a given raw contact

Most sync adapters will want to read all data rows for a raw contact along with the raw contact itself. For that you should use the ContactsContract.RawContactsEntity. See also ContactsContract.RawContacts.

Columns

Many columns are available via a CONTENT_URI query. For best performance you should explicitly specify a projection to only those columns that you need.

Some columns from the most recent associated status update are also available through an implicit join.

Some columns from the associated raw contact are also available through an implicit join. The other columns are excluded as uninteresting in this context.

The ID column for the associated aggregated contact table ContactsContract.Contacts is available via the implicit join to the ContactsContract.RawContacts table, see above. The remaining columns from this table are also available, through an implicit join. This facilitates lookup by the value of a single data element, such as the email address.

Summary

[Expand] Inherited Constants
From interface android.provider.BaseColumns String _COUNT The count of rows in a directory. String _ID The unique ID for a row.
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactNameColumns String DISPLAY_NAME_ALTERNATIVE An alternative representation of the display name, such as "family name first" instead of "given name first" for Western names. String DISPLAY_NAME_PRIMARY The standard text shown as the contact's display name, based on the best available information for the contact (for example, it might be the email address if the name is not available). String DISPLAY_NAME_SOURCE The kind of data that is used as the display name for the contact, such as structured name or email address. String PHONETIC_NAME Pronunciation of the full name in the phonetic alphabet specified by PHONETIC_NAME_STYLE. String PHONETIC_NAME_STYLE The phonetic alphabet used to represent the PHONETIC_NAME. String SORT_KEY_ALTERNATIVE Sort key based on the alternative representation of the full name, DISPLAY_NAME_ALTERNATIVE. String SORT_KEY_PRIMARY Sort key that takes into account locale-based traditions for sorting names in address books.
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactOptionsColumns String CUSTOM_RINGTONE URI for a custom ringtone associated with the contact. String LAST_TIME_CONTACTED The last time a contact was contacted. String SEND_TO_VOICEMAIL Whether the contact should always be sent to voicemail. String STARRED Is the contact starred? Type: INTEGER (boolean) String TIMES_CONTACTED The number of times a contact has been contacted Type: INTEGER
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactStatusColumns String CONTACT_CHAT_CAPABILITY Contact Chat Capabilities. String CONTACT_PRESENCE Contact presence status. String CONTACT_STATUS Contact's latest status update. String CONTACT_STATUS_ICON The resource ID of the icon for the source of contact status. String CONTACT_STATUS_LABEL The resource ID of the label describing the source of contact status, e.g. String CONTACT_STATUS_RES_PACKAGE The package containing resources for this status: label and icon. String CONTACT_STATUS_TIMESTAMP The absolute time in milliseconds when the latest status was inserted/updated.
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactsColumns String DISPLAY_NAME The display name for the contact. String HAS_PHONE_NUMBER An indicator of whether this contact has at least one phone number. String IN_VISIBLE_GROUP Lookup value that reflects the GROUP_VISIBLE state of any ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.GroupMembership for this contact. String LOOKUP_KEY An opaque value that contains hints on how to find the contact if its row id changed as a result of a sync or aggregation. String PHOTO_ID Reference to the row in the data table holding the photo. String PHOTO_THUMBNAIL_URI A URI that can be used to retrieve a thumbnail of the contact's photo. String PHOTO_URI A URI that can be used to retrieve the contact's full-size photo.
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.DataColumns String DATA1 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA10 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA11 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA12 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA13 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA14 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA15 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific. String DATA2 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA3 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA4 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA5 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA6 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA7 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA8 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA9 Generic data column, the meaning is MIMETYPE specific String DATA_VERSION The version of this data record. String IS_PRIMARY Whether this is the primary entry of its kind for the raw contact it belongs to. String IS_READ_ONLY The "read-only" flag: "0" by default, "1" if the row cannot be modified or deleted except by a sync adapter. String IS_SUPER_PRIMARY Whether this is the primary entry of its kind for the aggregate contact it belongs to. String MIMETYPE The MIME type of the item represented by this row. String RAW_CONTACT_ID A reference to the _ID that this data belongs to. String SYNC1 Generic column for use by sync adapters. String SYNC2 Generic column for use by sync adapters. String SYNC3 Generic column for use by sync adapters. String SYNC4 Generic column for use by sync adapters.
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.RawContactsColumns String AGGREGATION_MODE The aggregation mode for this contact. String CONTACT_ID A reference to the _ID that this data belongs to. String DELETED The "deleted" flag: "0" by default, "1" if the row has been marked for deletion. String RAW_CONTACT_IS_READ_ONLY The "read-only" flag: "0" by default, "1" if the row cannot be modified or deleted except by a sync adapter.
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.StatusColumns int AVAILABLE An allowed value of PRESENCE. int AWAY An allowed value of PRESENCE. int CAPABILITY_HAS_CAMERA An allowed flag of CHAT_CAPABILITY. int CAPABILITY_HAS_VIDEO An allowed flag of CHAT_CAPABILITY. int CAPABILITY_HAS_VOICE An allowed flag of CHAT_CAPABILITY. String CHAT_CAPABILITY Contact's audio/video chat capability level. int DO_NOT_DISTURB An allowed value of PRESENCE. int IDLE An allowed value of PRESENCE. int INVISIBLE An allowed value of PRESENCE. int OFFLINE An allowed value of PRESENCE. String PRESENCE Contact's latest presence level. String PRESENCE_CUSTOM_STATUS This constant is deprecated. use STATUS String PRESENCE_STATUS This constant is deprecated. use PRESENCE String STATUS Contact latest status update. String STATUS_ICON The resource ID of the icon for the source of the status update. String STATUS_LABEL The resource ID of the label describing the source of the status update, e.g. String STATUS_RES_PACKAGE The package containing resources for this status: label and icon. String STATUS_TIMESTAMP The absolute time in milliseconds when the latest status was inserted/updated.

[Expand] Inherited Methods

From class java.lang.Object Object clone() Creates and returns a copy of this Object. boolean equals(Object o) Compares this instance with the specified object and indicates if they are equal. void finalize() Called before the object's memory is reclaimed by the VM. final Class<?> getClass() Returns the unique instance of Class that represents this object's class. int hashCode() Returns an integer hash code for this object. final void notify() Causes a thread which is waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up. final void notifyAll() Causes all threads which are waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up. String toString() Returns a string containing a concise, human-readable description of this object. final void wait() Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object. final void wait(long millis, int nanos) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires. final void wait(long millis) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.