Contact items

A contact item is an element in a contact database. Each contact item is uniquely identified in the database by a contact item ID (TContactItemId). More than one contact item ID is referred to using a contact item ID array (CContactIdArray - a wrapper class for an array of contact item IDs).

Contact items are accessed through the contacts database. Opening a contact item (using CContactDatabase::OpenContactL()) locks it so that it cannot be edited by another client. Closing the contact item (using CContactDatabase::CloseContactL()) releases the lock on the item without saving any changes made to it. Committing the contact item (using CContactDatabase::CommitContactL()) releases the lock and saves any changes made to it.

For instance, the following code opens an item, edits it, then commits the changes:

CContactItem*   contactItem = db->OpenContactL(itemID);
CleanupStack::PushL(contactItem);
        
// First get the item's field set
CContactItemFieldSet& fieldSet=contactItem->CardFields();
            
// Search the field set for the given name field
TInt index = fieldSet.Find(KUidContactFieldGivenName);
CContactItemField &field= fieldSet[index];
        
// Set the given name field to "Fred"
_LIT(KName, "Fred");
field.TextStorage()->SetTextL(KName);
        
// Commit the change back to database and clean up
db->CommitContactL(*contactItem);
CleanupStack::PopAndDestroy(contactItem);

All contact items have the abstract base class CContactItem. Concrete implementations of the base class are:

• Contact cards: CContactCard

• Templates, which set the initial fields for other contact items: CContactCardTemplate

• Contact groups, which hold a set of associated contact item IDs: CContactGroup

• Own card, which is a contact card that contains information about the device's owner: CContactOwnCard