Implement PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID

[NLLAPPS]

As per https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/ContactsContract.DataColumns#PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID

[vestrel00]

@NLLAPPS based on my preliminary investigations, the PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID is used by dialer apps in conjunction with PhoneAccountHandle and PhoneAccount. All of these have been recently introduced in Android API 28. It seems like an advanced feature that is very specific for dialer apps (mainly dealing with TelecomManager), which I'm currently not prioritizing.

I can certainly add in that field as part of the Phone entity but I'm not sure what exactly it is used for and how. It's going to take me days to investigate and document. It's probably related to a bunch of other things as I pointed out above.

---

I'll wait to add this until I get more time to investigate and until I complete more higher priority issues in the Project Roadmap.

For now, I will convert this to a discussion so that other people can participate if they are also interested 😁

Thanks!

[NLLAPPS]

Yes it is specific to dialers. It is essentially another data where a dialer can get the phone account handle to pass to system when dialing. Only applies to dual sim/multi phone account devices. I can try to answer any questions you may have.

I am considering to move to your library for my planned contact editing feature. It looks to be a very complicated path if I go towards vanilla contentresolver route.

[vestrel00]

I am considering to move to your library for my planned contact editing feature.

AWESOME! I'd love to have you as a user of this library.

Yes it is specific to dialers. Only applies to dual sim/multi phone account devices.

Unfortunately, dialer support is not the main focus of this library. This library is focused on contacts, which is related to dialers.

I think you should still be able to use this library even without the addition of PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID.

I can try to answer any questions you may have.

I can still add this field/property to the library without fully supporting everything related to it. Just answer me a few questions;

1. Can you set this field while using the default Contacts app or dialer/phone app? If so, how do you do it? (A screen recording would be great, but optional, so I can see).
2. Is adding the PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID field/property to this library's PhoneEntity all you need in order for you to use this library in your app?
3. Please log the Data table so I can see some non-null values for this column.

val cursor = contentResolver.query(
    ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI,
    arrayOf(
        ContactsContract.Data._ID,
        ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID,
        ContactsContract.Data.CONTACT_ID,
        ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE,
        ContactsContract.Data.PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID,
        ContactsContract.Data.IS_PRIMARY,
        ContactsContract.Data.IS_SUPER_PRIMARY
    ),
    null,
    null,
    null
)

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 mimeType = cursor.getString(3)
    val preferredPhoneAccountId = cursor.getString(4)
    val isPrimary = cursor.getString(5)
    val isSuperPrimary = cursor.getString(6)

    log(
        """
            Data id: $id, rawContactId: $rawContactId, contactId : $contactId,
             mimeType: $mimeType, preferredPhoneAccountId: $preferredPhoneAccountId,
             isPrimary: $isPrimary, isSuperPrimary: $isSuperPrimary
        """.trimIndent().replace("\n", "")
    )
}

cursor.close()

[NLLAPPS]

1- It requires Contact permission only. I don't have dual SIM device to test it at the moment.
2- Most probably. Should be updatable though.
3- I am not using your library nor implemented PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID yet.
I think ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_URI should be used for this otherwise you would get all available mime types not just phone. A quick test however returns null for PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID

[vestrel00]

1. Can you set this field while using the default Contacts app or dialer/phone app? If so, how do you do it? (A screen recording would be great, but optional, so I can see).

1- It requires Contact permission only. I don't have dual SIM device to test it at the moment.

I don't have one either. I will need your help to do the investigation. I will probably guide you in contributing to this library by adding this field/property yourself 😁

We will have to wait until you are able to test this yourself. Let me know when you are ready.

2. Is adding the PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID field/property to this library's PhoneEntity all you need in order for you to use this library in your app?

2- Most probably. Should be updatable though.

Yes. Full CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operations should be supported.

3. Please log the Data table so I can see some non-null values for this column.

3. I am not using your library nor implemented PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID yet. I think ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_URI should be used for this...

Part of the investigation is not ruling out any possibility until you've seen it for yourself. I intentionally asked you to log all rows in the data table by using ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI because of the possibility that PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID;

• is only available (non-null) for just phone mime types
• is available (non-null) in all data rows and not just phone mime types
• is not using any common data kinds mime types such as phone mime type and might have a special value in the mime type column that may be unique per account

I'm hoping that it "is only available (non-null) for just phone mime types". However, we must not rule out the other possibilities until we can prove it by logging all data rows.

I'm suspicious because of the location of PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID...

ContactsContract {
    DataColumns {
        PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID
    }
    CommonDataKinds {
        Phone {
            CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE, CONTENT_URI, NUMBER, NORMALIZED_NUMBER
        }
    }
}

If this field/column is supposed to only be available for Data table rows of phone mime types, then why is it not placed in CommonDataKinds.Phone?

We need to answer the following questions;

1. How many different PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID can one RawContact have? Only one or possibly more?
2. Can every phone mime type rows in Data table have a different value for PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID?
3. Is the PREFERRED_PHONE_ACCOUNT_ID associated with a RawContact (Account-dependent) or the parent Contact (not dependent on Account)?

Let's continue this discussion when you are able to test. Thanks! 🍻