how to write .csv file from function? - iphone

Question

Hey Friends i got all contacts detail of my iphone by using this function ..
-(void)collectContacts
{
ABAddressBookRef addressBook = ABAddressBookCreate();
CFArrayRef people = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook);
//NSLog(#" the Name %#%",people);
for(int i = 0;i<ABAddressBookGetPersonCount(addressBook);i++)
{
ABRecordRef ref = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(people, i);
// Get First name, Last name, Prefix, Suffix, Job title
NSString *firstName = (NSString *)ABRecordCopyValue(ref,kABPersonFirstNameProperty);
NSString *lastName = (NSString *)ABRecordCopyValue(ref,kABPersonLastNameProperty);
NSString *prefix = (NSString *)ABRecordCopyValue(ref,kABPersonPrefixProperty);
NSString *suffix = (NSString *)ABRecordCopyValue(ref,kABPersonSuffixProperty);
NSString *jobTitle = (NSString *)ABRecordCopyValue(ref,kABPersonJobTitleProperty);
NSLog(#" the phoneType %#%",firstName);
NSLog(#" the phoneType %#%",lastName);
ABMultiValueRef phones = ABRecordCopyValue(ref, kABPersonPhoneProperty);
for(CFIndex j = 0; j < ABMultiValueGetCount(phones); j++)
{
CFStringRef phoneNumberRef = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(phones, j);
NSString *phoneLabel =(NSString*) ABAddressBookCopyLocalizedLabel (ABMultiValueCopyLabelAtIndex(phones, j));
NSString *phoneNumber = (NSString *)phoneNumberRef;
NSLog(#" the phoneType %#%",phoneLabel);
NSLog(#" the phoneNumber %#%",phoneNumber);
}
CFStringRef address;
CFStringRef label;
ABMutableMultiValueRef multi = ABRecordCopyValue(ref, kABPersonAddressProperty);
for (CFIndex i = 0; i < ABMultiValueGetCount(multi); i++)
{
label = ABMultiValueCopyLabelAtIndex(multi, i);
CFStringRef readableLabel = ABAddressBookCopyLocalizedLabel(label);
NSLog(#" Lable %#%",readableLabel);
address = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(multi, i);
NSLog(#" Address %#%",address);
CFRelease(address);
CFRelease(label);
}
ABMultiValueRef emails = ABRecordCopyValue(ref, kABPersonEmailProperty);
for(CFIndex idx = 0; idx < ABMultiValueGetCount(emails); idx++)
{
CFStringRef emailRef = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(emails, idx);
NSString *strLbl = (NSString*) ABAddressBookCopyLocalizedLabel (ABMultiValueCopyLabelAtIndex (emails, idx));
NSLog(#" Email Lable %#%",strLbl);
NSString *strEmail_old = (NSString*)emailRef;
NSLog(#" Email-Id %#%",strEmail_old);
//[[strEmail_old componentsJoinedByString:#","] writeToFile:#"components.csv" atomically:YES encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
}
}
//[[ContactsText componentsJoinedByString:#","] writeToFile:#"components.csv" atomically:YES encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
// NSLog(#" Data in the .CSV file = %#%",ContactsText);
}
'
Now i want to make .csv file from this function's output .. and m getting all data in NSLog . I juat want to write .csv file from that data .. Can anyone help me in that ?? Data coming are proper but .csv file not gonna written ...Thanks

Answer 1

Assuming you will have all the data in "ContactsText", try following code:
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
NSString* savePath = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
savePath = [savePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"components.csv"];
[[ContactsText componentsJoinedByString:#","] writeToFile:savePath atomically:YES encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
Remember that you cannot just save "components.csv" file. You have to save the file in documents folder only.

Answer 2

There are many Open Source extensions that add csv support to arrays. For example CHCSVParser which is available on GitHub.

Answer 3

Notice that your data may contain characters that require special treatment - in the case of a CSV file most notably the comma itself. If there is a comma in the string you write out, you should put double quotes around that field. In that case, if there is already a double quote in the string, you need to escape that, too.
I would suggest that you use the CHCSVParser from Dave DeLong, you can find it here: http://davedelong.com/portfolio
It is worth the trouble to import a good third-party framework to make sure edge cases are handled correctly.