How to sync to the phone phonebook

[afx]

How can I sync contacts to the phone book of my HTC Desire?
I only get offered the gmail account, as well as stocks and weather.
But the local phone book is not offered.
I definitely do not want to use the gmail phone book.

cheers
afx

[bfo]

The main problem is that Android maps the internal phone book entries to the gmail account, so there is no way to differentate between gmail acocunt and internal phone book. Please contact Google if you're not happy with that, unfortunately we can't change this from the application's point of view.

We think this comes from the fact that Android has introduced accounts with 2.0 and there is some legacy code to access the internal phone book.

So there is currently no other way than using this gmail account, you can switch off syncing to Google Calendar (in the general settings app) if you do not like to show Google your address book.

stocks and weather are some HTC Desire specific accounts which can't be really used for contacts sync.

Best Regards,
Beat

[afx]

Meanwhile I discovered that if I select no phone book at all to sync to in the Synthesis client it will sync to the native phone book.

Originally Posted by bfo

The main problem is that Android maps the internal phone book entries to the gmail account, so there is no way to differentate between gmail acocunt and internal phone book.

Hmm, my experience (see above) seems to point to a different situation for newer Android releases.

Also, there are at least two different APIs to access the phone book.
One that works on 1.x which seems to have the problem you describe and a newer one for 2.x that can access all phone books.
I was using aContacts as a means to access the phonebook for dialing, but it would not see the native phone book only the google one.
When I contacted the author, he told me to use his newer application "Dialer One" which uses a different API and can access the native phone book. He told me the main difference between the two apps is the API which is used to access the phone book.
All the apps on the phone that use the newer API can access the native phone book, the ones that don't will only see the google phone book.

Please contact Google if you're not happy with that, unfortunately we can't change this from the application's point of view.

Well, no change needed at the moment, But it looks like you need to learn more about the Android APIs ;-)

We think this comes from the fact that Android has introduced accounts with 2.0 and there is some legacy code to access the internal phone book.

See above.

So there is currently no other way than using this gmail account, you can switch off syncing to Google Calendar (in the general settings app) if you do not like to show Google your address book.

Working with the google address book but turning off sync results in status line icons pointing to the need to sync. Quite annoying as this can not be turned off.

stocks and weather are some HTC Desire specific accounts which can't be really used for contacts sync.

Yup. Don't understand the concept used there ;-(

cheers
afx

[bfo]

Originally Posted by afx

Well, no change needed at the moment, But it looks like you need to learn more about the Android APIs ;-)

This is a bit cheeky isn't it ??
We always have to learn, that's true.

Fact is: The current version of the Android client has implemented the old Contacts access without any account system for Android 1.5 and 1.6.
For Android 2.X it switches automatically to the new API with the ContactContract system (with the support of more than one account). This is visible on the main screen with a green icon for 1.X contacts and a red icon for 2.X contacts. So both systems are implemented and integrated, I don't think I have to learn more about that ). I have the impression you're underestimating our code .

What we have seen is that not all devices behave completely the same.
For example if you're using a Nexus One and write to account <none>, there will be no error, but items will not be visible anywhere. Other devices might write them to the internal phone book. The Android client reads all available address books from the account manager and makes them visible in the choice you see in the settings. The internal address book is not a separate account. Newer devices like DroidX do not even show all accounts correctly there, it's not that easy, it's a mess.

[afx]

Originally Posted by bfo

This is a bit cheeky isn't it ??

hey, what so you expect after your misleading first comment;-)

This is visible on the main screen with a green icon for 1.X contacts and a red icon for 2.X contacts. So both systems are implemented and integrated,

Interesting to hear.

I don't think I have to learn more about that ). I have the impression you're underestimating our code .

Well, your first comment indicated otherwise. ;-}
Instead of pointing to the obvious solution you told me to rant at Google.

For example if you're using a Nexus One and write to account <none>, there will be no error, but items will not be visible anywhere. Other devices might write them to the internal phone book. The Android client reads all available address books from the account manager and makes them visible in the choice you see in the settings. The internal address book is not a separate account. Newer devices like DroidX do not even show all accounts correctly there, it's not that easy, it's a mess.

Yuck.

cheers
afx

[afx]

Guess I was too optimistic.
trying to sync from the phone back to the server never syncs back any data even though the app tells me everything went fine.
So why is it that the native phone book can be loaded but not transferred back?

cheers
afx

[bfo]

Ok, we've learnt a little bit more about the accounts and the internal phonebook in the meantime ...

Today we've released version 1.7.2.19 which keeps the intermal phonebook and the gmail account completely separate now. So this kind of problems should disappear now. Feel free to test it out.

Cheers
Beat

[afx]

Nuked all phone books, and used the new app to download the contacts from the funambol server into the explicitly specified local phone book.
added an account, did a normal sync.
The added account does not show up on the funambol server ;-(
Edit: the number of contacts synced shown on the app is identical to the number of contacts on the server, missing the added contacts.
Sent sync log to Synthesis via the app.

cheers
afx

[bfo]

Ok, thanks for the log file.

Most of your contacts are in the accounts
- 'SIM' / 'com.anddroid.contacts.sim'
- 'pcsc' / 'com.htc.android.pcsc' (most of them are here)
but none of them in the internal phonebook

Both of these accounts are switched off in the active accounts settings of the Android client's contacts settings. If you switch on these accounts there, all these contacts will appear with high probability on your server after the next sync.

Cheers
Beat

[afx]

Originally Posted by bfo

Most of your contacts are in the accounts
- 'SIM' / 'com.anddroid.contacts.sim'

Should be only 15 that come by default from the network provider.....

- 'pcsc' / 'com.htc.android.pcsc' (most of them are here)
but none of them in the internal phonebook

Now it gets interesting.
The backup file that the native contacts app saves has that string in it as well.
The contacts app only shows me SIM, Google and Phone.

I'll try with that phone book and report back.

cheers
afx