How to set data as read only?

[marrale]

One more question, is in some way possible to add the "ContactsContract.Data.IS_READ_ONLY" flag on add/update with the actual release?
Or is something that could be implemented?
Thanks Alessandro

[vestrel00]

I have not played around with that field. I'll take a look at it this week to see what it's all about =)

[marrale]

Thanks, here a snipped from the source code how I use it:
val contentProviderOperationBuilder = ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI) .withValueBackReference( ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, rawId ) .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.IS_READ_ONLY, 1) // Readonly == true .withValue( ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE )

[vestrel00]

I do have a question. The title of this discussion is about setting Contacts to be read-only, yet the ContactsContract constant you are referencing is specific to Data table rows.

Are you interested in making data table rows read-only or also RawContact table rows too?

I remember in a different discussion I was unable to read/write the value of ContactsContract.RawContacts.RAW_CONTACT_IS_READ_ONLY. Making a RawContact read-only not only makes all of its data rows read-only but it probably also makes it so that the RawContact cannot be modified or deleted except by sync adapters.

Since you are working on sync adapters, you have higher privileges than regular applications. This library is tailored for application usage, not sync adapters. So, I don't want to add too much sync-adapter-only functionality into the library (at least for now). However, if it can also be used by regular applications in some way, I will be inclined to add support for it into this library =)

Anyways, I will have a deeper look into read-only RawContacts and Data rows this week.

[vestrel00]

I spent a little bit of time digging. Here's what I have so far.

---

Attempting to read the ContactsContract.RawContactsColumns.RAW_CONTACT_IS_READ_ONLY column throws this exception...

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid column raw_contact_is_read_only

I tried on a Google Pixel 4 API 33 emulator and on my physical Google Pixel 6 Pro API. I don't know what's going on there. I did not find anything either when searching the internet...

So, I'll have to skip RAW_CONTACT_IS_READ_ONLY for now. I don't think it's possible to incorporate into this API at the moment. It's also not what you are asking for anyways 😄

---

As for the other read-only flag in ContactsContract, ContactsContract.GroupsColumns.GROUP_IS_READ_ONLY, the Groups APIs and entities provided in this library already uses it and works fine AFAIK.

---

Next, I'll focus on investigating ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY, which is what you are asking about. This is specific to DATA rows of RawContacts. It indicates whether a data row (e.g. email, phone, name, etc) is read-only or not. It does NOT indicate whether a Contact or RawContact is read-only. Just making sure we are on the same page 🤔

[vestrel00]

Hmmm.... I'm also getting an exception when attempting to read ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY...

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid column is_read_only

@marrale, can you try logging it? Do you also get an exception? You can use the following code to log it,

fun Context.logDataTable() {
    val cursor = contentResolver.query(
        ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI,
        arrayOf(
            ContactsContract.Data._ID,
            ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID,
            ContactsContract.Data.CONTACT_ID,
            ContactsContract.Data.IS_READ_ONLY
        ),
        null,
        null,
        null
    )

    cursor ?: return

    while (cursor.moveToNext()) {
        // Use getString instead of getLong, getInt, etc so that the value could be null.
        val id = cursor.getString(0)
        val rawContactId = cursor.getString(1)
        val contactId = cursor.getString(2)
        val readOnly = cursor.getString(3)

        log("Data id: $id, rawContactId: $rawContactId, contactId: $contactId, readOnly: $readOnly")
    }

    cursor.close()
}

If reading the read-only value is not possible, I'm less inclined to add it to the APIs...

---

Next, I will take a look at the effects of inserting data rows with ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY set to true. Hopefully, it won't throw an exception 🤣

[vestrel00]

Okay, so... Here's what I found... We can set the the value of ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY on insert. It will actually result in a read-only data row.

Take this for example... Using the sample app in this repo with some local code changes, I created a RawContact named "Bob". It has two data rows. One is read-only and the other is not.

• name: "Bob", is_read_only: "1"
• email: "bob@example.com", is_read_only: "0"

Here is what happens when attempting to change the name and email values using Contacts apps...

aosp-contacts.mov

sample-contacts.mov

google-contacts.mov

All of the above contacts app shows that the update succeeded. The email did get updated BUT the name did not because it is read-only. Note that even if only the name is changed, the apps still show updated succeeded. This means that we cannot really check if the update truly applied the changes (unless we perform a query and compare before-and-after). This is just a limitation we will have to live with.

If ContactsContract.CALLER_IS_SYNCADAPTER is set to "1" (true), read-only data rows are able to be updated....

sample-contacts-caller-is-sync-adapter.mov

Of course, it will be up to the Account's sync adapter to update the backend in order to persist changes across devices.

---

As for ContactsContract.RawContactsColumns.RAW_CONTACT_IS_READ_ONLY, it did not behave the same way as ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY. The one for RawContacts did not have any behavioral effects AFAIK. So, I'll completely ignore that for now.

[vestrel00]

With all that said, I created several issues that should support your use case. I don't necessarily agree that these things should be added to this library. However, I can see value in it since it can help devs that are trying to do the same or similar things as you.

• Support setting ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY when inserting any NewDataEntity (e.g. name, email, phone, etc) #306
• Add extensions for checking the value of ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY for any ExistingDataEntity #307
• Support setting ContactsContract.CALLER_IS_SYNCADAPTER in all CRUD APIs #308
• Allow updating and deleting read-only groups when ContactsContract.CALLER_IS_SYNCADAPTER is set to true #309

I just have to make sure these new additions are properly documented so that average users of this library do not use them unnecessarily or incorrectly.

I will include all of the above issues in the next release, 0.3.1. I'm busy with work and life so I may not be able to make the release until later next week 😄

[marrale]

@vestrel00 thanks for taking your time for this exhaustive testing and explanation. And thanks to add the "ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY" to your library, this will really help me for my purpose and I'm able to fully use your library.

About the "ContactsContract.RawContactsColumns.RAW_CONTACT_IS_READ_ONLY" I guess is totally related to Sync adapter. I never try it, if I will give it a try in the future. As I said before, the "ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY" fulfil my purpose.

About the release, don't hurry, I will be very happy if you will be able to release it end of next week, but also if it is later on, no problem. Thanks a lot.

[vestrel00]

@marrale, I completed all of the issues and am ready to release the next version (0.3.1) next week! In addition to the SOURCE_ID discussions we had, here are some more new things that you will be able to do...

Insert new RawContacts with data set to read-only,

contactsApi
        .insert()
        .rawContact {
            addEmail {
                isReadOnly = true
                address = "123@abc.com"
                type = EmailEntity.Type.WORK
            }
            setName {
                isReadOnly = true
                givenName = "Abc"
            }
            setNickname {
                isReadOnly = true
                name = "Alphabet"
            }
            setNote {
                isReadOnly = true
                note = "The english alphabet"
            }
            ...
        }
        .commit()

I also added an extension function so that you can set the read-only property of all data of the RawContact in one call,

contactsApi
        .insert()
        .rawContact {
            addEmail {
                address = "123@abc.com"
                type = EmailEntity.Type.WORK
            }
            setName {
                givenName = "Abc"
            }
            setNickname {
                name = "Alphabet"
            }
            setNote {
                note = "The english alphabet"
            }
            ...
            // Make sure to call this after you've set/added all RawContact data.
            setDataAsReadOnly(true)
        }
        .commit()

As discussed, I am unable to include the ContactsContract.DataColumns.IS_READ_ONLY column in the projections array of queries because it throws an exception. This means that ExistingDataEntity (e.g. Name, Email, etc) does NOT have a readOnly property. However, I did implement extension functions that will allow you to check if any existing data is read-only...

val readOnly: Boolean? = rawContact.name?.isReadOnly(contactsApi)
val readOnlyMap: Map<Long, Boolean> = rawContact.dataList().isReadOnlyMap(contactsApi)

Additionally, you are now able to create instances of the contacts.core.Contacts API with ContactsContract.CALLER_IS_SYNCADAPTER set to true, which will be applied to all CRUD operations performed using that Contacts instance...

val contactsApi = Contacts(context, callerIsSyncAdapter = true)

---

@marrale, please let me know if these changes suffice. If you need anything else, please let me know so that I can include it in the next release (if it is not too much effort) 🙏

[marrale]

@vestrel00 thanks a lot for your effort, really appreciated. It looks like your improvments includes everything (and more) needed for my purpose. Especially I love this extension function "setDataAsReadOnly(true)". I'm looking forward to the library release of next week. BR Alessandro

[vestrel00]

🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
This is now release in 0.3.1!
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥