Inserting contacts

[Monica Marcus]

I am trying to insert contacts using the following method (in my activity class):

	protected void insertContacts(String[] names, String[] numbers, int[] ids) {
		cv=new ContentValues();
		//this.grantUriPermission("com.example.contactsdemo",Uri.parse("content://com.android.contacts/contacts"), MODE_WORLD_WRITEABLE);
			for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
			    Log.i("In insertContacts","in the loop " + i);
			    cv.clear();
			    cv.put(Data.DISPLAY_NAME,names[i]);
			    cv.put(Phone.NUMBER,numbers[i]);
			    cv.put(Phone._ID,ids[i]);
			    //getContentResolver().insert(Data.CONTENT_URI, cv);
			    getContentResolver().insert(getTheUri(), cv);
			}
	}
	

but I get the RunTimeException: aggregate contacts are created automatically. This happens in the last line of the method. If I use instead the commented one, I get NullPointerException. I don't really understand what's happening. How to get rid of the errors? I would very much appreciate your help.

[Roland Mueller]

The Log.i(...) in line 5 should be a typo and not compile.

For getting some help about the NullPointerException you should have a look at the stacktrace: this will tell where in your code the NPE occured.

-Roland

[Roland Mueller]

Java != Android. thus the Log.i() is pretty valid. Sorry for the confusion about the Log.i() call!

However, the sentence about the stacktrace is OK.

[Monica Marcus]

Thank you, Roland, for the advice. As I mentioned in my post, the NullPointerException occurs in the last line of the method. I tried to see which could be the null pointer, but I saw that none of the objects that appear in this line point to null. Maybe I miss something, but here's the stack trace. I cannot get any more information from the stack trace:

06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.contactsdemo/com.example.contactsdemo.MainActivity}: java.lang.NullPointerException
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1970)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1995)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:128)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1161)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4517)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:995)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:762)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.os.Parcel.readException(Parcel.java:1333)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.database.DatabaseUtils.readExceptionFromParcel(DatabaseUtils.java:182)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.database.DatabaseUtils.readExceptionFromParcel(DatabaseUtils.java:136)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.content.ContentProviderProxy.insert(ContentProviderNative.java:415)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.content.ContentResolver.insert(ContentResolver.java:730)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at com.example.contactsdemo.MainActivity.insertContacts(MainActivity.java:62)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at com.example.contactsdemo.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:41)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:4597)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1053)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1934)
06-24 13:36:32.248: E/AndroidRuntime(6426): 	... 11 more

Perhaps you or someone else can help me to find out why I get the NullPointerException. Thank you in advance!

[Monica Marcus]

Oh, I'm sorry. I must say that I get the NullPointerException when the last line is replaced by the commented-out line. That is, I get NullPointerException from the line

u = getContentResolver().insert(Data.CONTENT_URI, cv);

[Ulf Dittmer]

Does that mean "getContentResolver()" returns null? Do that method's javadocs talk about the circumstances under which it can return null?

[Roland Mueller]

The problem should be in the data provided when using the URL from android.provider.ContactsContract.Data. With a more simple example I got an NPE unless Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID was inserted into the cv.

In your case you could use the i from the loop to add cv.put(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, i); to every c/o item.

       ContentValues cv = new ContentValues();

        
        cv.put(Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, 001);

        cv.put(Data.MIMETYPE, Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE);
        //cv.put(Data.DISPLAY_NAME, "NSA");
        cv.put(Phone.NUMBER, "+1-007");
 
        Log.i("CONTACT_TEST", "cv: " + cv);
        Log.i("CONTACT_TEST", Data.CONTENT_URI.toString());
        ContentResolver contentResolver = getContentResolver();
        Log.i("CONTACT_TEST", "contentResolver=" + contentResolver);

        contentResolver.insert(Data.CONTENT_URI, cv);

[Roland Mueller]

.... forgot to mention where I found the deciding hint:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8414192/how-to-create-a-contact-programmatically

[Monica Marcus]

You are a great programmer, Roland! Thanks a lot. I learned something from this.

[Monica Marcus]

Now, after I added three contacts to my list of contacts, I wanted to show (list) them using a cursor and a ListAdapter. I don't get any error but instead of the list of contacts I see written on the screen only the following URI:

content://com.android.contacts/phone_lookup

What does it mean? I might show you the code too, but I'm not sure it is necessary.

Thanks for help!

[Monica Marcus]

However, I decided to post the code for the method I use to list the contacts. Perhaps this way I'll get more chances to receive an explanation.

	protected void showContacts() {
		String [] projection=new String[] {
				StructuredName.DISPLAY_NAME,
				Phone.NUMBER,
				};
		int[] to = new int[] { R.id.txtName, R.id.txtNumber, 
				};
		txt.setText(ContactsContract.PhoneLookup.CONTENT_FILTER_URI.toString());
		Cursor managedCursor = getContentResolver().query(Data.CONTENT_URI, null, null, null, null); 
		startManagingCursor(managedCursor);

		ListAdapter sca=new SimpleCursorAdapter(this,R.layout.list_entry,managedCursor,projection,to);
		list.setAdapter(sca);

	}

[Monica Marcus]

I discovered which is the line that writes that output on the screen phone: it is the one starting with txt.setText(...
Ok, so this in fact answers my question and lefts me working on the program to get the list of contacts.... hopefully.

[Monica Marcus]

Sorry for my English ... "it leaves me working on ..."