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 tu

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? = 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())
    }
}