Card Parts
How do the card parts work in VisualCard?
Normally, cards in VisualCard have two types of parts that define a contact:
Strings (
GetString()
)Array of parts (
GetPartsArray()
)
In the current version of VisualCard, the following parts are supported:
Key | Type | 2.1 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| String | ● | ● | ||
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | |
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | |
| String | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | |||
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● | ||
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Array | ● | ● | ● | |
| Array | ● | ● | ||
| Array | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● | ||
| Array | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| String | ● | ● | ● | |
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● | ● | |
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | |||
| String | ● | |||
| Array | ● | |||
| String | ● | |||
| String | ● | |||
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● | ||
| String | ● | ● |
The following base types by all the properties that can be put into arrays are supported:
HOME
,WORK
, andPREF
X-nonstandard
and IANA typesExtra types supported by some properties, such as
ADR
andTEL
Here are the extra types that the following properties support:
Property | Types |
---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The below sections describe how exactly to parse all the supported types.
You can access all extra X-named and IANA properties by calling GetPartsArray
, passing it the ExtraInfo
type as a generic type argument.
Strings
Strings in vCard and VisualCard are the simplest of the types that allow you to input just text that represent that property. The above table shows all the properties, and those that are listed as a String, such as CLASS
, can be get as a string using a function called GetString()
. You can also get a dictionary of a list of parsed strings using the Strings
property.
This function returns one of the following strings:
An empty string
If the string is not supported in the contact's vCard version.
If the string is not defined in the contact's vCard instance.
If the string is explicitly blank.
"individual"
If the string is not defined in the contact's vCard 4.0 or 5.0 kind.
If the string is explicitly "individual" in the contact's vCard 4.0 or 5.0 kind.
A string value
If the string is defined, supported, and is not empty.
You can easily access the card kind using the CardKindStr
property from a card instance. It's also available as an enumeration value via the CardKind
property.
When using the above function, it returns an instance of CardValueInfo<string>
that contains the following properties:
Property
: An instance ofPropertyInfo
that shows you a dissection of raw prefix, group, and values. It contains the following properties:Arguments
: An array of parsedArgumentInfo
instances that contains the following properties and functions:Key
: Argument key nameValues
: An array of a tuple that describes the value case sensitivity and the unquoted valueAllValues
: An array of unquoted valuesMatchValue()
: A function that lets you match a value
Value
: Raw value, as it appears on a vCard representationPrefix
: Raw prefix, as it appears on a vCard representationGroup
: Raw group, as it appears on a vCard representationNestedGroups
: Nested groups separated by a dot
AltId
: Alternative ID. If it's not specified, it returns-1
.ElementTypes
: Card element type (home, work, ...)ValueType
: Value type (usually set by VALUE=)Group
: Property groupValue
: A string valueIsPreferred
: Is this part preferred?
You can also use the following functions:
HasType()
: Checks to see if this value has a specific type
Array of Parts
Parts that can be more than one part (i.e. can be put to an array and can exist more than once per vCard instance) exist in vCard. The above table shows all the properties that are listed as an Array. If they are listed as such, like TEL
, you can get it using GetPartsArray()
. You can also get a dictionary of a list of parsed parts array lists using the PartsArray
property.
GetPartsArray()
is a generic method. This means that you can specify one of the Info
classes, as long as it represents a valid class that points to a valid part, such as TelephoneInfo
. In this case, you'll have to call it like this:
You can directly get a value of a property without having to cast the resultant part to the correct part info class. The same base properties also apply to the normal Parts.
You can also get any parts array as a base, though you can't call the non-parameterized function against the base part, BaseCardPartInfo
. You'll also have to cast the resultant part if you need to access something other than the base properties as mentioned above.
This function returns one of the following:
An empty array
If the parts array is not supported in the contact's vCard version
If the parts array is not defined in the contact's vCard instance
An array of parts
If the part is supported and defined in the contact's vCard instance
Any attempt to specify an incorrect type or enumeration in the second overload of GetPartsArray
, such as Contact.GetPartsArray<AddressInfo>(PartsArrayEnum.Telephone)
, will throw an exception. However, it doesn't throw an exception in case BaseCardPartInfo
is specified.
For preferred parts, their value of the IsPreferred
property is true, assuming that the PREF
type exists in such parts.
Getting a Blob Stream
Image parts, icon parts, sound parts, and key parts in a vCard instance allow you to get a blob stream from the encoded data that allows you to represent the actual data decoded from the BASE64 encoding as a blob. VisualCard exposes this feature to allow you to perform various operations on them, such as displaying contact pictures, saving sound parts as sound files, etc.
You can make use of this feature by invoking the GetBlobData()
function from the VcardParserTools
class.
This feature doesn't support non-blob values, such as an HTTPS URL to a logo file.
Nested cards
Sometimes, you may come across a vCard file that consists of multiple nested vCards. This, accompanied with the UID
property, can be connected so that you can make relationships with cards. You can easily access all children cards within a property in your Card
instance using a property called NestedCards
. You can easily access the UID of a card via a UniqueId
property.
When no UID
property is specified in the vCard file, it's empty, so it's assumed to have no relationship with any card. Even if they have no UID, they can be nested.
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