Database Develop

Adding contact pictures to your phone from Facebook

Man, I wrote this tool ages ago. I completely forgot about it until I saw the other thread in this forum. Basically I wanted a way to get all my friend's facebook profile photos into my phone really easily.
Your phone syncs your contacts from your Gmail/Google. And Gmail supports contact pictures. I wrote an application that logs into your facebook, and finds any contacts that also exist in your Gmail account. If it finds a matching contact, it uploads that Facebook profile picture to your Gmail contact. And then those pictures show up on your phone! Pretty useful.
Usage (this application runs on your Windows PC):
0) Make sure you have .NET Framework 3.5. The application may crash otherwise.
1) Start the application and input your Gmail username and password.
2) The next screen will ask for your Facebook credentials.
3) Wait for it... Wait for it... Done! (The application will have finished syncing)
4) Wait some more... Your phone may take a while to sync the new images from Google's servers. But they'll get there eventually.
WARNING: This will replace any photos that may already be associated with your contact. Go ahead and modify the code if you don't want it to do that.
Download the Windows application and the source here:
http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/10/synchronizing-google-and-facebook.html

Whoah dude! I can't use this (Mac!) but sounds great. I'm assuming you have all the API's down, have you considered building this as an Android app?

punkweakling said:
Whoah dude! I can't use this (Mac!) but sounds great. I'm assuming you have all the API's down, have you considered building this as an Android app?
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Just run it on a Windows PC then. Nothing is actually stored on the PC; it's just syncing pictures between servers (Google/Facebook). I ran it once several months ago and haven't thought about it since.
Yeah, I've thought about making it an Android application, but I don't think it would be that useful. Contact management and syncing between two servers is done much easier on a PC, for both the user and a developer. I'm thinking about improving the application to allow syncing between Outlook, Facebook, and Google. That would be handy, but difficult to use on a phone. The results, however, would show up on your phone.

I must say, great little app. I've given up trying to add pictures to my contacts. Worked perfetly once I got Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installed. I hope you really consider making this an Android App. I can guarantee that it'll get thousands of downloads in the first day.
For those of you who do note have Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, check out the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en

this is very nice. i would love to use it.... if only i wasnt still using myspace... bleh

Facebook pics for gmail contacts...
worked great for me. Thanks!

If it is on Android, every time a new contact is added, the program searches for the profile image from Facebook or Linkedin. It might be cool. Is your source code under GPL? I am interested in converting your code into Java, so it can run on Android.

It's Creative Commons, not GPL. The application itself is less than 30 lines of code. It is just leveraging the .NET bindings to the Facebook and Google Data APIs.

So is this using phone numbers? Email addresses? Names? (to compare between Gmail and Facebook)?

momentarylapseofreason said:
So is this using phone numbers? Email addresses? Names? (to compare between Gmail and Facebook)?
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Just names. The Facebook API does definitely does not give you access to the email address. And the version I was using (and this may have changed) also does not give you access to phone numbers.

Koush said:
Just names. The Facebook API does definitely does not give you access to the email address. And the version I was using (and this may have changed) also does not give you access to phone numbers.
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Ahh... ok. I have a lot of my friends listed by nicknames etc. I understand that the phone/emails are actually images (I assume to thwart off spammers with automated catchers).
It would be awesome if this wasn't the case though. I have been spending the last hour adding email addresses from Facebook contacts so I can add a picture to their name.

good app but i wish it sync'd contacts by name instead of email...
meaning if two names match, sync. even if i just have a phone number for that contact and not an email.
but good app.

cboy007 said:
good app but i wish it sync'd contacts by name instead of email...
meaning if two names match, sync. even if i just have a phone number for that contact and not an email.
but good app.
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Click to collapse
Actually, it only matches by name. You can't access emails or phone numbers through the Facebook API.

Koush said:
Actually, it only matches by name. You can't access emails or phone numbers through the Facebook API.
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Reading comprehension is not one of his strong points.

How can i change the way it matches? for example instead of names, i put my friends facebok id as "customer id" field on windows mobile outlook. and i want it to syncronize if they matches istead of names. this way there will be no confusion if names doesnt match because of a small difference. do you think it needs much work?

worked pretty well for me.. pic quality was a bit distorted on a few.. but what the hell.. they're photo's I didn't have before Thank You for a neat little app.

pixel-painter said:
worked pretty well for me.. pic quality was a bit distorted on a few.. but what the hell.. they're photo's I didn't have before Thank You for a neat little app.
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Agreed. Nice app, thanks

hate to bring back an old thread, but is there any plan to develop this for facebook/microsoft pic transfers? For those of us that don't have office, but use an @hotmail or @live, this would be great.
Thanks

It would be great if I could link the contacts to their Facebook account manually if their names do not match ^^.

There is also a facebook sync app on the market that works well for me. Hasn't missed a contact or had a false match for me.

Sync w/o Outlook

Hey folks,
Sorry to post such a 'simple' question, but I can't seem to google up the right words to find what I'm looking for -- and the links I did find didn't give me much personal opinions of different services.
I recently lost Sync options with my work (yay economy and licensing costs).. I loved using Outlook to sync my calender from MS Exchange to my phone... and I could use OWA to enter in my calender events from my computer. It also allowed my calender to survive flashes w/o backups.
I can't survive without my calender syncing, since the change i'm late to work constantly (I used to enter my shifts in OWA w/reminders 2 hours before to make sure I'm moving early enough to get ready & to work on time -- In case I'm watching a movie with the dog and don't notice the time)
I found 2 solutions, but both are around Google's calender, which I'm not super keen on, but could work:
1. Google Calender Mobile Website -- My understanding is it does reminders by SMS(?) and is mostly managed by google -- not the phone.
2. GooSync / OogSync -- Looks like it'll sync right into the phone's native calender -- But I didnt see verification of it syncing with the native calender, and/or if it supports making sure my reminders & other 'extra' information is sync'ed
I don't want to give Microsoft any money for outlook, so what do you all use :-/
Thanks guys, again, sorry for posting this issue without spending 3 hours researching first :-/ but getting a headache from trying to find a solution!
So, My needs:
1) Bi-directional Sync
2) Extra Information (e.g. Reminders) Sync
3) Easy entry/editing of calender info from a computer
Hopes:
4) Can work behind corporate firewalls blocking gmail, yahoo mail, etc.
5) Task Syncing
Thanks guys, love XDA
-Lee

Possible ways to sync
Unfortunately the easiest way would be to sync through outlook.
Though your company may have cut licensing cost ask the IT gurus if your company may have an agreement with MS. It's called Home Use Program (HUP) LINK.
If they do you can buy a full office pack for home use for ~ $20 which is definitely worth doing it. Afterwards simply maintain your contacts at your home PC and sync them through the PC. You may export them out of your office outlook either as PAB or CSV file and import at home. AFAIK this doesn't work with outlook express, you need a full blown office outlook.
You may also look at the link below if this would do it for you.
http://www.tipsfor.us/2008/04/15/sy...ontacts-and-calendar-using-funambol-for-free/
Perhaps you have a friendly IT group. Download the attached file, rename ZIP to PDF and take a look, it may work in your environment.

have you tried mail2web? its outlook (OWA), syncs with your phone (email, contacts, calender, etc..) and you can also manage it on your computer. Best of all, its free http://exchange.mail2web.com/

Hmmm.. with e-mail forwarding from my gmail to this that might actually work out well... save battery life on checking multiple e-mail accounts...
In case someone stumbles on this, link to account setup is: http://services.mail2web.com/Services/exchangesolutions.asp
Took a bit of searchign to find that page, most of their stuff advertises their paid services.... I'll give the free one a try, if I like it I'd be willing to pay (or at least donate) for it

instead of Mail2web try out seven, mail forwarding service. found here, i swear by it, it's been such a good service, you do have to sign up but it remembers you, so if you switch to another phone, ROM, etc your e-mail account(s) will be saved and you can add multiple accounts, and set times for mail forwarding. I'm not sure about contacts, but it asks every time i restart it if i want to import my contacts from g-mail. it's definitely worth a try.

[Q] Mail application, no support for meeting requests?

Hi,
it's only me or Samsung Galaxy S default Mail application doesn't support work with meeting requests, like "Accept", "Decline" and then "Send message", etc like on all other devices?
Is there any trick in it or it's just me?
Thanks for any suggestion/s.
Night

Are you referring to Exchange?
Open the request, you will see in between the Responses (the invitee) and the event info, there is an option allow you to tap and select your answer.
Let me know if my reply answered your query. Thanks.

Are you referring to Exchange?
Open the request, you will see in between the Responses (the invitee) and the event info, there is an option allow you to tap and select your answer.
Let me know if my reply answered your query. Thanks.

Yes, refering to Exchange.
I can see only "header" with sender, recipeints, subject and decription (body).
In context menu (menu key) is only forward, reply, etc.. no "Accept" or anything like that
Testest on the same account and same message (meeting request) on HTC Desire, worked as expected.
Can you make a screen how you see it?
Thanks!

my apology, should check your calendar instead.
any luck?
My phone is busy with the setup, will try to show you a screen capture as soon as the CPU is free

Anyone? I would really like to know if it's just me or general issue
Thanks a lot!

I'm having the same issue and would also be very interested in a solution?

Can't even connect to our Exchange 2010 server, so can't help you

I read somewhere that "better Exchange support" was coming in the official Froyo release... not sure specifically if this will be one of the "better" things. In any case, I had the same problem, couldn't find a solution.
I'm using a program called "Touchdown" which works well (including allowing you to accept/decline meeting requests), but isn't free.

We should do the distinction between Froyo better support of exchange and the s.it done by Samsung to handle the mail/contact/calendar from exchange
If you don't have the meeting working correctly it has nothing to do with Froyo but with Samsung who doesn't know anything about exchange.
I just received an invitation and I can see it on the mail and in the calendar but there is no way for me to accept it. My colleague with the HTC desire had no issue of course
For instance try to get a phone number from the exchange contact book ( not in the contact that you sync on your phone of course) on your HTC ... it's super easy. Now try to do the same on the Samsung ... you can't unless you buy Touchdown

I have the issue on the Galaxy Tab. So basically I need to purchase Touchdown in order for it to work fine. Will it integrate with the existing e-mail client and the existing Samsung calendar?

It doesn't integrate with Samsung Calendar or mail, it replaces them (you can use both, if you like)... there's a 30 day free trial, download it and check it out.

I'll give it a try and will let you know how it worked out for me. Thnx
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

For the time being it is working fine. Can you tell me how much the Touchdown license costs?

A better Contacts app?

Anyone using an app for their contacts that's better than the stock Captivate app?
My problem with the app is likely due to how I use it, but it's driving me crazy. I have 3 accounts syncing their contacts to it. 90% of each account is a dupe of the other accounts, but I need to have all 3 for that 10%. If I don't, then I have to pick one and constantly take the time to manually make sure it's up to date. Instead I think the spool should just work.
My problems are so far it only lets you combine 4 contacts. I *could* go through all 3 accounts and clean them up, but again, I think the app should be more flexible and let me combine as many as I want. Also, it doesn't let me choose a group of contacts within gmail. WHY does it think I need the contact info of EVERY person I've ever communicated with?! Let me just limit which groups within the account I want synced, especially to limit it to "my contacts" within gmail.
Anyone with similar frustrations find something better?
Thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Contacts
Pocket Informant isn't out yet, but when it is it will be great.

Any timeframe?
Thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

the one included in the Cognition ROM is pretty awesome. i just noticed it today (i don't use that app too often). it looks the same but you can swipe left to text a contact or swipe right to call. i found this very slick!

Little Dragon said:
the one included in the Cognition ROM is pretty awesome. i just noticed it today (i don't use that app too often). it looks the same but you can swipe left to text a contact or swipe right to call. i found this very slick!
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that is the stock samsung app.

uiskibum said:
that is the stock samsung app.
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I was thinking the same thing

Lol mt bads. That's how often i use the.contacts app
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

pocket informant would be great! hope it comes out soon...

I would try dialer one. It's free and an amazing app. I'm not sure it will do what you want but there are tons of options. My favorite is the swiping to go to contacts, favorites, and call log. I started using it because I wanted my favorites to come up first thing without a dial pad when I hit the phone. Hope it helps.

all the contact apps are half done as is e mail
How can you take Android seriously without a decent contacts manger or e mail client?
I have tried them all the contact apps and they are all difficult if not impossible to use. Some do not enable all the fields you need and on others the search is incorrect. None of them mesh with or incorporate the phone & text function well. Right now I'm working with the 2.2 contacts manager, 2.2 messaging and Touchdown. It takes all three to marginally achieve what I need. This is an opportunity for someone.
I just installed the CyanogenMod e mail to try and find a decent e mail client. It is not much better then the 2.2 e mail (it does include your message when you reply), Touchdown or any of the others. Touchdown would be good if it would handle multiple accounts of each and every variety.There is another opportunity here.

RobertDeBord said:
Anyone using an app for their contacts that's better than the stock Captivate app?
My problem with the app is likely due to how I use it, but it's driving me crazy. I have 3 accounts syncing their contacts to it. 90% of each account is a dupe of the other accounts, but I need to have all 3 for that 10%. If I don't, then I have to pick one and constantly take the time to manually make sure it's up to date. Instead I think the spool should just work.
My problems are so far it only lets you combine 4 contacts. I *could* go through all 3 accounts and clean them up, but again, I think the app should be more flexible and let me combine as many as I want. Also, it doesn't let me choose a group of contacts within gmail. WHY does it think I need the contact info of EVERY person I've ever communicated with?! Let me just limit which groups within the account I want synced, especially to limit it to "my contacts" within gmail.
Anyone with similar frustrations find something better?
Thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are syncing 3 contact sources and there are some dupes, then those are linked - you can see all 3 individually, but picking the contact source you want to view, or you can unlink those 10%.
As for groups, 2.2 appears to fix this, but for now, one solution is to export all your contacts to your SD card then import them all to your "phone". The phone address book allows you to create and manage groups.
Maybe the stock Android contact manager is better. I am holding out for 2.2 as what i have seen, looks like they fixed most issues involving groups and google groups.

My Solution for Getting Gmail-compatible Contacts

Well, I haven't seen anyone successfully replace the NC contacts app with the generic Android one, but I found something almost as good ... if you're willing to pay.
If you download Touchdown for Exchange from the market (demo version, have to pay to use it for more than 30 days), you can set up your gmail address as an exchange account (login is the full e-mail address, server is m.google.com). It'll sync contacts w/the Exchange server ... and by default, sync those with your "phone's' contact list.
I've tried it, and confirmed autocomplete for contacts now works in gmail.
Some caveats:
* While Touchdown can handle more than one exchange account, it does so with "profiles." You switch between them -- and when you're in one profile, you'll only have access to the contacts from that one. I've got my phone set up with both my personal gmail and my office's google apps account ... so now I'm using Soocial to sync their contacts (non-ideal), and having touchdown just bring down the office stuff.
* You'll want to tweak your e-mail settings to minimize how much data you're having the device get. No need to pull down your inbox again if gmail already is. I have it set not to get message bodies, to sync the minimum amount of days, etc.
* It's a paid app, so you'll have to pony up the cash. And although I'd previously purchased a license key via the market on my phone, I'm not seeing the option for the license key (protected app unsupported by the current market hack?) showing up in the market for my NC. You can also enter a license key, but I'll be trying copying over my valid key from my phone and seeing what happens ...
Nice:
* It handles the calendar well as well ... so no need to bring in the Calendar.apk or CorpCalendar.apk if you don't want to.

Soocial non-ideal
Hi Wordsmith,
Just a quick question why you find Soocial to be non-ideal? I'm part of the Soocial team and we try to listen as much as we can to our users or potential users. Sounds like you are looking for a one stop place to have your address book synced. In what area do you find Soocial lacking now for it to be non-ideal.
Thanks for trying and using Soocial. ;-)

stefanfountain said:
Hi Wordsmith,
Just a quick question why you find Soocial to be non-ideal? I'm part of the Soocial team and we try to listen as much as we can to our users or potential users. Sounds like you are looking for a one stop place to have your address book synced. In what area do you find Soocial lacking now for it to be non-ideal.
Thanks for trying and using Soocial. ;-)
Click to expand...
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I juist wasn't really looking to have these address books synced in the first place, but I AM looking to access both from my NC, as I do from my Android phone. Since I didn't have a great solution to that, I'm using your product to include all my contacts in both of my address books.

I've used touchdown for about a year now and it's never let me down. Best exchange program hands down. Thanks for the tip to use it to sync Google contacts!
FYI: you can sync only contacts if you choose and the server is m.google.com w/ssl in case anyone needs it.