Creating vCards in ASP.Net

6/3/2008

Have you ever created your own website, or even a business website, where you wanted to have an easy way for individuals to add you to their contacts list without having to type it in themselves? That's where the vCard comes in. A vCard is a file format that is used to exchange business information (basically a digital business card). They're small, efficient, etc. and the best thing about a vCard is they're extremely easy to create:

   1: /*

   2: Copyright (c) 2010 <a href="http://www.gutgames.com">James Craig</a>

3:

   4: Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy

   5: of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal

   6: in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights

   7: to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell

   8: copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is

   9: furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

10:

  11: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in

  12: all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

13:

  14: THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR

  15: IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,

  16: FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

  17: AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER

  18: LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,

  19: OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN

  20: THE SOFTWARE.*/

21:

  22: #region Usings

  23: using System.Collections.Generic;

  24: using System.Text;

  25: using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

  26: #endregion

27:

  28: namespace Utilities.FileFormats

  29: {

  30:     /// <summary>

  31:     /// Class for creating vCards

  32:     /// </summary>

  33:     public class VCard

  34:     {

  35:         #region Constructor

36:

  37:         /// <summary>

  38:         /// Constructor

  39:         /// </summary>

  40:         public VCard()

  41:         {

  42:             Relationships = new List<Relationship>();

  43:         }

44:

  45:         #endregion

46:

  47:         #region Public Functions

48:

  49:         /// <summary>

  50:         /// Gets the vCard

  51:         /// </summary>

  52:         /// <returns>A vCard in string format</returns>

  53:         public string GetVCard()

  54:         {

  55:             StringBuilder Builder = new StringBuilder();

  56:             Builder.Append("BEGIN:VCARD\r\nVERSION:2.1\r\n");

  57:             Builder.Append("FN:");

  58:             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Prefix))

  59:             {

  60:                 Builder.Append(Prefix).Append(" ");

  61:             }

  62:             Builder.Append(FirstName + " ");

  63:             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(MiddleName))

  64:             {

  65:                 Builder.Append(MiddleName).Append(" ");

  66:             }

  67:             Builder.Append(LastName);

  68:             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Suffix))

  69:             {

  70:                 Builder.Append(" ").Append(Suffix);

  71:             }

  72:             Builder.Append("\r\n");

73:

  74:             Builder.Append("N:");

  75:             Builder.Append(LastName).Append(";").Append(FirstName).Append(";")

  76:                 .Append(MiddleName).Append(";").Append(Prefix).Append(";")

  77:                 .Append(Suffix).Append("\r\n");

  78:             Builder.Append("TEL;WORK:").Append(DirectDial).Append("\r\n");

  79:             Builder.Append("EMAIL;INTERNET:").Append(StripHTML(Email)).Append("\r\n");

  80:             Builder.Append("TITLE:").Append(Title).Append("\r\n");

  81:             Builder.Append("ORG:").Append(Organization).Append("\r\n");

  82:             Builder.Append("END:VCARD\r\n");

  83:             return Builder.ToString();

  84:         }

85:

  86:         /// <summary>

  87:         /// Gets the hCard version of the vCard

  88:         /// </summary>

  89:         /// <returns>A hCard in string format</returns>

  90:         public string GetHCard()

  91:         {

  92:             StringBuilder Builder = new StringBuilder();

  93:             Builder.Append("<div class=\"vcard\">");

  94:             if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(Url))

  95:             {

  96:                 Builder.Append("<div class=\"fn\">");

  97:                 if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Prefix))

  98:                 {

  99:                     Builder.Append(Prefix).Append(" ");

 100:                 }

 101:                 Builder.Append(FirstName).Append(" ");

 102:                 if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(MiddleName))

 103:                 {

 104:                     Builder.Append(MiddleName).Append(" ");

 105:                 }

 106:                 Builder.Append(LastName);

 107:                 if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Suffix))

 108:                 {

 109:                     Builder.Append(" ").Append(Suffix);

 110:                 }

 111:                 Builder.Append("</div>");

 112:             }

 113:             else

 114:             {

 115:                 Builder.Append("<a class=\"fn url\" href=\"").Append(Url).Append("\"");

 116:                 if (Relationships.Count > 0)

 117:                 {

 118:                     Builder.Append(" rel=\"");

 119:                     foreach (Relationship Relationship in Relationships)

 120:                     {

 121:                         Builder.Append(Relationship.ToString()).Append(" ");

 122:                     }

 123:                     Builder.Append("\"");

 124:                 }

 125:                 Builder.Append(">");

 126:                 if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Prefix))

 127:                 {

 128:                     Builder.Append(Prefix).Append(" ");

 129:                 }

 130:                 Builder.Append(FirstName).Append(" ");

 131:                 if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(MiddleName))

 132:                 {

 133:                     Builder.Append(MiddleName).Append(" ");

 134:                 }

 135:                 Builder.Append(LastName);

 136:                 if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Suffix))

 137:                 {

 138:                     Builder.Append(" ").Append(Suffix);

 139:                 }

 140:                 Builder.Append("</a>");

 141:             }

 142:             Builder.Append("<span class=\"n\" style=\"display:none;\"><span class=\"family-name\">").Append(LastName).Append("</span><span class=\"given-name\">").Append(FirstName).Append("</span></span>");

 143:             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(DirectDial))

 144:             {

 145:                 Builder.Append("<div class=\"tel\"><span class=\"type\">Work</span> ").Append(DirectDial).Append("</div>");

 146:             }

 147:             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Email))

 148:             {

 149:                 Builder.Append("<div>Email: <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:").Append(StripHTML(Email)).Append("\">").Append(StripHTML(Email)).Append("</a></div>");

 150:             }

 151:             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Organization))

 152:             {

 153:                 Builder.Append("<div>Organization: <span class=\"org\">").Append(Organization).Append("</span></div>");

 154:             }

 155:             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Title))

 156:             {

 157:                 Builder.Append("<div>Title: <span class=\"title\">").Append(Title).Append("</span></div>");

 158:             }

 159:             Builder.Append("</div>");

 160:             return Builder.ToString();

 161:         }

 162:         #endregion

 163:

 164:         #region Private Functions

 165:

 166:         private static string StripHTML(string HTML)

 167:         {

 168:             if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(HTML))

 169:                 return string.Empty;

 170:

 171:             HTML = STRIP_HTML_REGEX.Replace(HTML, string.Empty);

 172:             HTML = HTML.Replace("&nbsp;", " ");

 173:             return HTML.Replace("&#160;", string.Empty);

 174:         }

 175:

 176:         private static readonly Regex STRIP_HTML_REGEX = new Regex("<[^>]*>", RegexOptions.Compiled);

 177:

 178:         #endregion

 179:

 180:         #region Properties

 181:         /// <summary>

 182:         /// First name

 183:         /// </summary>

 184:         public string FirstName { get; set; }

 185:

 186:         /// <summary>

 187:         /// Last name

 188:         /// </summary>

 189:         public string LastName { get; set; }

 190:

 191:         /// <summary>

 192:         /// Middle name

 193:         /// </summary>

 194:         public string MiddleName { get; set; }

 195:

 196:         /// <summary>

 197:         /// Prefix

 198:         /// </summary>

 199:         public string Prefix { get; set; }

 200:

 201:         /// <summary>

 202:         /// Suffix

 203:         /// </summary>

 204:         public string Suffix { get; set; }

 205:

 206:         /// <summary>

 207:         /// Work phone number of the individual

 208:         /// </summary>

 209:         public string DirectDial { get; set; }

 210:

 211:         /// <summary>

 212:         /// Email of the individual

 213:         /// </summary>

 214:         public string Email { get; set; }

 215:

 216:         /// <summary>

 217:         /// Title of the person

 218:         /// </summary>

 219:         public string Title { get; set; }

 220:

 221:         /// <summary>

 222:         /// Organization the person belongs to

 223:         /// </summary>

 224:         public string Organization { get; set; }

 225:

 226:         /// <summary>

 227:         /// Relationship to the person (uses XFN)

 228:         /// </summary>

 229:         public List<Relationship> Relationships { get; set; }

 230:

 231:         /// <summary>

 232:         /// Url to the person's site

 233:         /// </summary>

 234:         public string Url { get; set; }

 235:

 236:         #endregion

 237:     }

 238:

 239:     #region Enums

 240:     /// <summary>

 241:     /// Enum defining relationships (used for XFN markup)

 242:     /// </summary>

 243:     public enum Relationship

 244:     {

 245:         Friend,

 246:         Acquaintance,

 247:         Contact,

 248:         Met,

 249:         CoWorker,

 250:         Colleague,

 251:         CoResident,

 252:         Neighbor,

 253:         Child,

 254:         Parent,

 255:         Sibling,

 256:         Spouse,

 257:         Kin,

 258:         Muse,

 259:         Crush,

 260:         Date,

 261:         Sweetheart,

 262:         Me

 263:     }

 264:     #endregion

 265: }

The code above takes in some information (first name, last name, telephone number, etc.) and returns a vCard in string format so you can put it in a file (vcf is the common file extension) or really anything you want (note though that this uses 2.1 and not 3.0, as 3.0 tends not to be supported by various apps). Along with creating a vCard, the code also has a function to create an hCard (and also allows for XFN embedding). Anyway, use the code, leave feedback, and happy coding.

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