Android APIs
java.lang.Object
   ↳ android.provider.ContactsContract.Contacts

Class Overview

Constants for the contacts table, which contains a record per aggregate of raw contacts representing the same person.

Operations

Insert
A Contact cannot be created explicitly. When a raw contact is inserted, the provider will first try to find a Contact representing the same person. If one is found, the raw contact's CONTACT_ID column gets the _ID of the aggregate Contact. If no match is found, the provider automatically inserts a new Contact and puts its _ID into the CONTACT_ID column of the newly inserted raw contact.
Update
Only certain columns of Contact are modifiable: TIMES_CONTACTED, LAST_TIME_CONTACTED, STARRED, CUSTOM_RINGTONE, SEND_TO_VOICEMAIL. Changing any of these columns on the Contact also changes them on all constituent raw contacts.
Delete
Be careful with deleting Contacts! Deleting an aggregate contact deletes all constituent raw contacts. The corresponding sync adapters will notice the deletions of their respective raw contacts and remove them from their back end storage.
Query
  • If you need to read an individual contact, consider using CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI instead of CONTENT_URI.
  • If you need to look up a contact by the phone number, use PhoneLookup.CONTENT_FILTER_URI, which is optimized for this purpose.
  • If you need to look up a contact by partial name, e.g. to produce filter-as-you-type suggestions, use the CONTENT_FILTER_URI URI.
  • If you need to look up a contact by some data element like email address, nickname, etc, use a query against the ContactsContract.Data table. The result will contain contact ID, name etc.

Columns

Contacts
long _ID read-only Row ID. Consider using LOOKUP_KEY instead.
String LOOKUP_KEY read-only 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.
long NAME_RAW_CONTACT_ID read-only The ID of the raw contact that contributes the display name to the aggregate contact. During aggregation one of the constituent raw contacts is chosen using a heuristic: a longer name or a name with more diacritic marks or more upper case characters is chosen.
String DISPLAY_NAME_PRIMARY read-only The display name for the contact. It is the display name contributed by the raw contact referred to by the NAME_RAW_CONTACT_ID column.
long PHOTO_ID read-only Reference to the row in the ContactsContract.Data table holding the photo. That row has the mime type CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE. The value of this field is computed automatically based on the IS_SUPER_PRIMARY field of the data rows of that mime type.
long PHOTO_URI read-only A URI that can be used to retrieve the contact's full-size photo. This column is the preferred method of retrieving the contact photo.
long PHOTO_THUMBNAIL_URI read-only A URI that can be used to retrieve the thumbnail of contact's photo. This column is the preferred method of retrieving the contact photo.
int IN_VISIBLE_GROUP read-only An indicator of whether this contact is supposed to be visible in the UI. "1" if the contact has at least one raw contact that belongs to a visible group; "0" otherwise.
int HAS_PHONE_NUMBER read-only An indicator of whether this contact has at least one phone number. "1" if there is at least one phone number, "0" otherwise.
int TIMES_CONTACTED read/write The number of times the contact has been contacted. See markAsContacted(ContentResolver, long). When raw contacts are aggregated, this field is computed automatically as the maximum number of times contacted among all constituent raw contacts. Setting this field automatically changes the corresponding field on all constituent raw contacts.
long LAST_TIME_CONTACTED read/write The timestamp of the last time the contact was contacted. See markAsContacted(ContentResolver, long). Setting this field also automatically increments TIMES_CONTACTED. When raw contacts are aggregated, this field is computed automatically as the latest time contacted of all constituent raw contacts. Setting this field automatically changes the corresponding field on all constituent raw contacts.
int STARRED read/write An indicator for favorite contacts: '1' if favorite, '0' otherwise. When raw contacts are aggregated, this field is automatically computed: if any constituent raw contacts are starred, then this field is set to '1'. Setting this field automatically changes the corresponding field on all constituent raw contacts.
String CUSTOM_RINGTONE read/write A custom ringtone associated with a contact. Typically this is the URI returned by an activity launched with the ACTION_RINGTONE_PICKER intent.
int SEND_TO_VOICEMAIL read/write An indicator of whether calls from this contact should be forwarded directly to voice mail ('1') or not ('0'). When raw contacts are aggregated, this field is automatically computed: if all constituent raw contacts have SEND_TO_VOICEMAIL=1, then this field is set to '1'. Setting this field automatically changes the corresponding field on all constituent raw contacts.
int CONTACT_PRESENCE read-only Contact IM presence status. See ContactsContract.StatusUpdates for individual status definitions. Automatically computed as the highest presence of all constituent raw contacts. The provider may choose not to store this value in persistent storage. The expectation is that presence status will be updated on a regular basis.
String CONTACT_STATUS read-only Contact's latest status update. Automatically computed as the latest of all constituent raw contacts' status updates.
long CONTACT_STATUS_TIMESTAMP read-only The absolute time in milliseconds when the latest status was inserted/updated.
String CONTACT_STATUS_RES_PACKAGE read-only The package containing resources for this status: label and icon.
long CONTACT_STATUS_LABEL read-only The resource ID of the label describing the source of contact status, e.g. "Google Talk". This resource is scoped by the CONTACT_STATUS_RES_PACKAGE.
long CONTACT_STATUS_ICON read-only The resource ID of the icon for the source of contact status. This resource is scoped by the CONTACT_STATUS_RES_PACKAGE.

Summary

Nested Classes
class ContactsContract.Contacts.AggregationSuggestions

A read-only sub-directory of a single contact aggregate that contains all aggregation suggestions (other contacts). 
class ContactsContract.Contacts.Data A sub-directory of a single contact that contains all of the constituent raw contact ContactsContract.Data rows. 
class ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity

A sub-directory of a contact that contains all of its ContactsContract.RawContacts as well as ContactsContract.Data rows. 
class ContactsContract.Contacts.Photo A read-only sub-directory of a single contact that contains the contact's primary photo. 
class ContactsContract.Contacts.StreamItems

A sub-directory of a single contact that contains all of the constituent raw contact ContactsContract.StreamItems rows. 
Constants
String CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE The MIME type of a CONTENT_URI subdirectory of a single person.
String CONTENT_TYPE The MIME type of CONTENT_URI providing a directory of people.
String CONTENT_VCARD_TYPE The MIME type of a CONTENT_URI subdirectory of a single person.
[Expand]
Inherited Constants
From interface android.provider.BaseColumns
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactNameColumns
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactOptionsColumns
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactStatusColumns
From interface android.provider.ContactsContract.ContactsColumns
Fields
public static final Uri CONTENT_FILTER_URI The content:// style URI used for "type-to-filter" functionality on the CONTENT_URI URI.
public static final Uri CONTENT_GROUP_URI
public static final Uri CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI A content:// style URI for this table that should be used to create shortcuts or otherwise create long-term links to contacts.
public static final Uri CONTENT_MULTI_VCARD_URI Base Uri for referencing multiple Contacts entry, created by appending LOOKUP_KEY using withAppendedPath(Uri, String).
public static final Uri CONTENT_STREQUENT_FILTER_URI The content:// style URI used for "type-to-filter" functionality on the CONTENT_STREQUENT_URI URI.
public static final Uri CONTENT_STREQUENT_URI The content:// style URI for this table joined with useful data from ContactsContract.Data, filtered to include only starred contacts and the most frequently contacted contacts.
public static final Uri CONTENT_URI The content:// style URI for this table
public static final Uri CONTENT_VCARD_URI Base Uri for referencing a single Contacts entry, created by appending LOOKUP_KEY using withAppendedPath(Uri, String).
Public Methods
static Uri getLookupUri(ContentResolver resolver, Uri contactUri)
Builds a CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI style Uri describing the requested Contacts entry.
static Uri getLookupUri(long contactId, String lookupKey)
Build a CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI lookup Uri using the given _ID and LOOKUP_KEY.
static Uri lookupContact(ContentResolver resolver, Uri lookupUri)
Computes a content URI (see CONTENT_URI) given a lookup URI.
static void markAsContacted(ContentResolver resolver, long contactId)
This method was deprecated in API level 16. The class DataUsageStatUpdater of the Android support library should be used instead.
static InputStream openContactPhotoInputStream(ContentResolver cr, Uri contactUri, boolean preferHighres)
Opens an InputStream for the contacts's photo and returns the photo as a byte stream.
static InputStream openContactPhotoInputStream(ContentResolver cr, Uri contactUri)
Opens an InputStream for the contacts's thumbnail photo and returns the photo as a byte stream.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object

Constants

public static final String CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE

Added in API level 5

The MIME type of a CONTENT_URI subdirectory of a single person.

Constant Value: "vnd.android.cursor.item/contact"

public static final String CONTENT_TYPE

Added in API level 5

The MIME type of CONTENT_URI providing a directory of people.

Constant Value: "vnd.android.cursor.dir/contact"

public static final String CONTENT_VCARD_TYPE

Added in API level 5

The MIME type of a CONTENT_URI subdirectory of a single person.

Constant Value: "text/x-vcard"

Fields

public static final Uri CONTENT_FILTER_URI

Added in API level 5

The content:// style URI used for "type-to-filter" functionality on the CONTENT_URI URI. The filter string will be used to match various parts of the contact name. The filter argument should be passed as an additional path segment after this URI.

public static final Uri CONTENT_GROUP_URI

Added in API level 5

public static final Uri CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI

Added in API level 5

A content:// style URI for this table that should be used to create shortcuts or otherwise create long-term links to contacts. This URI should always be followed by a "/" and the contact's LOOKUP_KEY. It can optionally also have a "/" and last known contact ID appended after that. This "complete" format is an important optimization and is highly recommended.

As long as the contact's row ID remains the same, this URI is equivalent to CONTENT_URI. If the contact's row ID changes as a result of a sync or aggregation, this URI will look up the contact using indirect information (sync IDs or constituent raw contacts).

Lookup key should be appended unencoded - it is stored in the encoded form, ready for use in a URI.

public static final Uri CONTENT_MULTI_VCARD_URI

Base Uri for referencing multiple Contacts entry, created by appending LOOKUP_KEY using withAppendedPath(Uri, String). The lookup keys have to be joined with the colon (":") separator, and the resulting string encoded. Provides OpenableColumns columns when queried, or returns the referenced contact formatted as a vCard when opened through openAssetFileDescriptor(Uri, String).

Usage example:

The following code snippet creates a multi-vcard URI that references all the contacts in a user's database.
 public Uri getAllContactsVcardUri() {
     Cursor cursor = getActivity().getContentResolver().query(Contacts.CONTENT_URI,
         new String[] {Contacts.LOOKUP_KEY}, null, null, null);
     if (cursor == null) {
         return null;
     }
     try {
         StringBuilder uriListBuilder = new StringBuilder();
         int index = 0;
         while (cursor.moveToNext()) {
             if (index != 0) uriListBuilder.append(':');
             uriListBuilder.append(cursor.getString(0));
             index++;
         }
         return Uri.withAppendedPath(Contacts.CONTENT_MULTI_VCARD_URI,
                 Uri.encode(uriListBuilder.toString()));
     } finally {
         cursor.close();
     }
 }

public static final Uri CONTENT_STREQUENT_FILTER_URI

Added in API level 5

The content:// style URI used for "type-to-filter" functionality on the CONTENT_STREQUENT_URI URI. The filter string will be used to match various parts of the contact name. The filter argument should be passed as an additional path segment after this URI.

public static final Uri CONTENT_STREQUENT_URI

Added in API level 5

The content:// style URI for this table joined with useful data from ContactsContract.Data, filtered to include only starred contacts and the most frequently contacted contacts.

public static final Uri CONTENT_URI

Added in API level 5

The content:// style URI for this table

public static final Uri CONTENT_VCARD_URI

Added in API level 5

Base Uri for referencing a single Contacts entry, created by appending LOOKUP_KEY using withAppendedPath(Uri, String). Provides OpenableColumns columns when queried, or returns the referenced contact formatted as a vCard when opened through openAssetFileDescriptor(Uri, String).

Public Methods

public static Uri getLookupUri (ContentResolver resolver, Uri contactUri)

Added in API level 5

Builds a CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI style Uri describing the requested Contacts entry.

Parameters
contactUri A CONTENT_URI row, or an existing CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI to attempt refreshing.

public static Uri getLookupUri (long contactId, String lookupKey)

Added in API level 5

Build a CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI lookup Uri using the given _ID and LOOKUP_KEY.

public static Uri lookupContact (ContentResolver resolver, Uri lookupUri)

Added in API level 5

Computes a content URI (see CONTENT_URI) given a lookup URI.

Returns null if the contact cannot be found.

public static void markAsContacted (ContentResolver resolver, long contactId)

Added in API level 5

This method was deprecated in API level 16.
The class DataUsageStatUpdater of the Android support library should be used instead.

Mark a contact as having been contacted. Updates two fields: TIMES_CONTACTED and LAST_TIME_CONTACTED. The TIMES_CONTACTED field is incremented by 1 and the LAST_TIME_CONTACTED field is populated with the current system time.

Parameters
resolver the ContentResolver to use
contactId the person who was contacted

public static InputStream openContactPhotoInputStream (ContentResolver cr, Uri contactUri, boolean preferHighres)

Added in API level 14

Opens an InputStream for the contacts's photo and returns the photo as a byte stream.

Parameters
cr The content resolver to use for querying
contactUri the contact whose photo should be used. This can be used with either a CONTENT_URI or a CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI URI.
preferHighres If this is true and the contact has a higher resolution photo available, it is returned. If false, this function always tries to get the thumbnail
Returns
  • an InputStream of the photo, or null if no photo is present

public static InputStream openContactPhotoInputStream (ContentResolver cr, Uri contactUri)

Added in API level 5

Opens an InputStream for the contacts's thumbnail photo and returns the photo as a byte stream.

Parameters
cr The content resolver to use for querying
contactUri the contact whose photo should be used. This can be used with either a CONTENT_URI or a CONTENT_LOOKUP_URI URI.
Returns
  • an InputStream of the photo, or null if no photo is present
See Also