vcard - vCard (RFC 6350) contacts build and parse

Import with import "vcard.j" as vcard;. Build contact Cards and encode them to vCard 4.0 text (VCARD records), and parse that text back. The contacts counterpart to ical: the two share the same content-line codec (TEXT escaping, 75-character line folding). Pure Jennifer over strings / lists - no Go engine, so it runs on both binaries.

import "vcard.j" as vcard;

def c as vcard.Card init vcard.card("Ada Lovelace");
$c = vcard.withName($c, "Lovelace", "Ada");
$c = vcard.addEmail($c, "ada@example.com");
def text as string init vcard.encode($c);   # BEGIN:VCARD ... END:VCARD

Runnable: examples/modules/vcard_demo.j.

Types

Both structs have public fields (read them directly - $c.emails, $c.family); the builder functions are the conventional way to construct them.

def struct vcard.Card {
    formattedName as string,          # FN (required by vCard 4.0)
    family as string,                 # N family (last) name
    given as string,                  # N given (first) name
    organization as string,           # ORG ("" when unset)
    title as string,                  # TITLE ("" when unset)
    emails as list of string,         # EMAIL (0..n)
    phones as list of string,         # TEL (0..n)
    addresses as list of Address,     # ADR (0..n)
    url as string,                    # URL ("" when unset)
    note as string                    # NOTE ("" when unset)
};
def struct vcard.Address {
    street as string, locality as string, region as string,
    postalCode as string, country as string
};

Building

The builders are value-semantic - each returns a fresh copy and never mutates its argument, so you thread them:

def c as vcard.Card init vcard.card("Grace Hopper");
$c = vcard.withName($c, "Hopper", "Grace");
$c = vcard.withOrg($c, "US Navy", "Rear Admiral");
$c = vcard.addEmail($c, "grace@navy.mil");
$c = vcard.addAddress($c, vcard.address("1 Navy Way", "Arlington", "VA", "22202", "USA"));

Encoding and parsing

parse(encode(card)) round-trips the data. parse always returns a list (a vCard file may hold many cards, or none). encode writes VERSION:4.0, escapes text values, folds long lines, and omits empty optional fields. parse unfolds folded lines, ignores property parameters (the ;KEY=VALUE after a name, e.g. EMAIL;TYPE=work), reads the structured N / ADR values, and unescapes text.

Structured values

N (name), ADR (address), and ORG are structured: components are separated by ;. N is Family;Given;Additional;Prefix;Suffix (this module sets family and given); ADR is POBox;Extended;Street;Locality;Region;PostalCode;Country (this module sets the last five, leaving PO box and extended empty); ORG is Organization;Unit;... (this module sets and reads the first component). A ; or , inside a component value is escaped, so it never splits the structure.

Scope

• A contact subset. FN / N / ORG / TITLE / EMAIL / TEL / ADR / URL / NOTE. No BDAY / PHOTO / GEO / TZ / KIND / grouping, no parameter round-tripping (a TYPE=work on input is dropped, not preserved), and the N additional / prefix / suffix and ADR PO-box / extended components are not modelled. The escaping / folding / structured-value discipline is the reusable core.
• vCard 4.0 output. encode always writes VERSION:4.0; parse reads any version’s properties (it does not enforce the version line).

See also

• ical.md - the calendar counterpart sharing the content-line codec.
• strings.md - the text surface the codec is built on.
• modules/index.md - the module catalog and import rules.