contacts API

The addressBooks API, also including the contacts API and mailingLists API namespaces, first appeared in Thunderbird 64.

Permissions

addressBooks

Read and modify your address books and contacts

sensitiveDataUpload

Transfer sensitive user data (if access has been granted) to a remote server for further processing

Note

The permission addressBooks is required to use messenger.contacts.*.

Functions

create(parentId, [id], properties)

Adds a new contact to the address book with the id parentId.

Parameters

parentId

(string)

[id]

(string, optional)

Assigns the contact an id. If an existing contact has this id, an exception is thrown. Note: Deprecated, the card’s id should be specified in the vCard string instead.

properties

The properties object for the new contact. If it includes a vCard member, all specified legacy properties are ignored and the new contact will be based on the provided vCard string. If a UID is specified in the vCard string, which is already used by another contact, an exception is thrown. Note: Using individual properties is deprecated, use the vCard member instead.

Return type (Promise)

string

The ID of the new contact.

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

delete(id)

Removes a contact from the address book. The contact is also removed from any mailing lists it is a member of.

Parameters

id

(string)

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

get(id)

Gets a single contact.

Parameters

id

(string)

Return type (Promise)

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

getPhoto(id)

– [Added in TB 106]

Gets the photo associated with this contact, if any.

Parameters

id

(string)

Return type (Promise)

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

list(parentId)

Gets all the contacts in the address book with the id parentId.

Parameters

parentId

(string)

Return type (Promise)

array of ContactNode

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

quickSearch([parentId], queryInfo)

Gets all contacts matching queryInfo in the address book with the id parentId.

Parameters

[parentId]

(string, optional)

The id of the address book to search. If not specified, all address books are searched.

queryInfo

(string or QueryInfo)

Either a string with one or more space-separated terms to search for, or a complex QueryInfo search query.

Return type (Promise)

array of ContactNode

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

setPhoto(id, file)

– [Added in TB 107]

Sets the photo associated with this contact.

Parameters

id

(string)

file

(File)

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

update(id, properties)

Updates a contact.

Parameters

id

(string)

properties

An object with properties to update the specified contact. Individual properties are removed, if they are set to null. If the provided object includes a vCard member, all specified legacy properties are ignored and the details of the contact will be replaced by the provided vCard. Changes to the UID will be ignored. Note: Using individual properties is deprecated, use the vCard member instead.

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

Events

onCreated

Fired when a contact is created.

Parameters for onCreated.addListener(listener)

listener(node)

A function that will be called when this event occurs.

Parameters passed to the listener function

node

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

onDeleted

Fired when a contact is removed from an address book.

Parameters for onDeleted.addListener(listener)

listener(parentId, id)

A function that will be called when this event occurs.

Parameters passed to the listener function

parentId

(string)

id

(string)

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

onUpdated

Fired when a contact is changed.

Parameters for onUpdated.addListener(listener)

listener(node, changedProperties)

A function that will be called when this event occurs.

Parameters passed to the listener function

node

changedProperties

– [Added in TB 83]

Required permissions

  • addressBooks

Types

ContactNode

A node representing a contact in an address book.

object

id

(string)

The unique identifier for the node. IDs are unique within the current profile, and they remain valid even after the program is restarted.

properties

type

Always set to contact.

[parentId]

(string, optional)

The id of the parent object.

[readOnly]

(boolean, optional)

Indicates if the object is read-only.

[remote]

(boolean, optional)

Indicates if the object came from a remote address book.

ContactProperties

A set of individual properties for a particular contact, and its vCard string. Further information can be found in Working with vCard contacts.

object

<custom properties>

(string)

Custom properties are not saved in the users vCard. Therefore, they are not transferred to the users server, if the contact is stored on a remote CardDAV server. Names of custom properties may include a-z, A-Z, 1-9 and _.

<legacy properties>

(string)

Legacy properties point to certain fields in the contacts vCard string and provide direct read/write access.

vCard

(string)

– [Added in TB 102]

The contacts vCard string.

PropertyChange

– [Added in TB 83]

A dictionary of changed properties. Keys are the property name that changed, values are an object containing oldValue and newValue. Values can be either a string or null.

object

QueryInfo

– [Added in TB 91]

Object defining a query for quickSearch([parentId], queryInfo).

object

[includeLocal]

(boolean, optional)

Whether to include results from local address books. Defaults to true.

[includeReadOnly]

(boolean, optional)

Whether to include results from read-only address books. Defaults to true.

[includeReadWrite]

(boolean, optional)

Whether to include results from read-write address books. Defaults to true.

[includeRemote]

(boolean, optional)

Whether to include results from remote address books. Defaults to true.

[searchString]

(string, optional)

One or more space-separated terms to search for.