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

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?
    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? {
    if let ab = abRef {
        return Unmanaged.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?
    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? {
    if let ab = abRef {
        return Unmanaged.fromOpaque(ab.toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue()
    }
    return nil
}

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

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