To find a solution to create a vCard file from a Filemaker contact database – ideally natively with no plug-in. (vCard<\/strong> [.vcf] is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards are often attached to e-mail messages. They can contain name and address information, phone numbers, URLs, logos, photographs, and even audio clips.)<\/p>\n The first step was to map out the structure of a vCard to be able to replicate it into a filemaker field.<\/p>\n The following is an example of a vCard file containing information for one person:<\/p>\n BEGIN:VCARD vCard defines the following property types: FN, N, NICKNAME, PHOTO, BDAY, ADR, LABEL, TEL, EMAIL, MAILER, TZ, GEO, TITLE, ROLE, LOGO, AGENT, ORG, CATEGORIES, NOTE, PRODID, REV, SORT-STRING, SOUND, URL, UID, VERSION, CLASS, KEY [1]. In addition, because vCard augments RFC-2425, a standard for directory information, the following property types are also supported: SOURCE, NAME, PROFILE, BEGIN, END.<\/p>\n This is fairly straight forward to map from a contact database in Filemaker via a calculation field but here is a custom function that wraps it all up nicely:<\/p>\n \/* Returns text formatted as a vCard<\/p>\n This function takes contact info and formats it into the vCard format as text.\u00a0 The result field contents can be exported and opened as a .vcf file which can be opened in the Apple Address Book and other software that supports the vCard format.<\/p>\n Written by Chris Pye – info@mactec.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n vcard ( FirstName; LastName; Org; Title; Phone; Fax; Mobile; Email; Street; Suburb; State; Zip; Country )<\/p>\n *\/<\/p>\n \/\/ DECLARE VARIABLES<\/p>\n Let ( [<\/p>\n \/\/ All relevant fields are mapped here<\/p>\n _LastName = LastName; _Org = Org; _Phone1Value = Phone; _Phone2Value = Fax; _Phone3Value = Mobile; _FullName = FirstName & ” ” & LastName;<\/p>\n \/\/ I have had problems with bad characters in the street line, so added this \/\/ vname = _LastName & “;” & _FirstName & “;” & _MiddleName & “;” & _Title & “;” & _Suffix;<\/p>\n vfname = _FullName;<\/p>\n vtel1 = If( not IsEmpty ( _Phone1Value );”TEL;” & If(PatternCount (_Phone1Label ;” ” )=1;Substitute ( _Phone1Label ; ” ” ; “;” );_Phone1Label) & “:” & _Phone1Value & “\u00b6”;”” );<\/p>\n vtel2 = If( not IsEmpty ( _Phone2Value );”TEL;” & If(PatternCount (_Phone2Label ;” ” )=1;Substitute ( _Phone2Label ; ” ” ; “;” );_Phone2Label) & “:” & _Phone2Value & “\u00b6”;”” );<\/p>\n vtel3 = If( not IsEmpty ( _Phone3Value );”TEL;” & If(PatternCount (_Phone3Label ;” ” )=1;Substitute ( _Phone3Label ; ” ” ; “;” );_Phone3Label) & “:” & _Phone3Value & “\u00b6”;”” ); vtitle = If( not IsEmpty ( _JobTitle ); “TITLE:” & _JobTitle & “\u00b6”;””) ]; )<\/p><\/blockquote>\n However even if you use\u00a0export field contents of a field using this custom function (or any for that matter) you get the paragraph returns wiped out (Windows and Filemaker 9.0v3 – I think on a Mac this is probably not the case – Windows needs CRLF or Carriage Return followed by a Line Feed and Mac only need the CR).<\/p>\n I first had a search through some forums for a solution as obviously without this I could not export the field to a vcf file format as the paragraph returns are very important in the make up of this file.<\/p>\nSOLUTION:<\/h2>\n
\nVERSION:2.1
\nN:Gump;Forrest
\nFN:Forrest Gump
\nORG:Gump Shrimp Co.
\nTITLE:Shrimp Man
\nTEL;WORK;VOICE:(111) 555-1212
\nTEL;HOME;VOICE:(404) 555-1212
\nADR;WORK:;;100 Waters Edge;Baytown;LA;30314;United States of America
\nLABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:100 Waters Edge=0D=0ABaytown, LA 30314=0D=0AUnited States of America
\nADR;HOME:;;42 Plantation St.;Baytown;LA;30314;United States of America
\nLABEL;HOME;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:42 Plantation St.=0D=0ABaytown, LA 30314=0D=0AUnited States of America
\nEMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:forrestgump@walladalla.com
\nREV:20080424T195243Z
\nEND:VCARD<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n_FirstName = FirstName;
\n_MiddleName =””;
\n_Title = Title;
\n_Suffix = “”;<\/p>\n
\n_Dept = “”;
\n_JobTitle = “”;<\/p>\n
\n_Phone1Label = “work”;<\/p>\n
\n_Phone2Label = “fax”;<\/p>\n
\n_Phone3Label = “cell”;
\n_Email1Value = Email;
\n_Email1Label = “work”;
\n_Address1Street = Street;
\n_Address1City = Suburb;
\n_Address1State = State;
\n_Address1Code = Zip;
\n_Address1Country = Country;
\n_Address1Label =”work”;<\/p>\n
\n_FilterText = “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890.-()\/\u00b6\\\u2019 []?,!#” & “‘”;<\/p>\n
\n\/\/ NOW START FORMATTING THEM FOR THE VCARD FORMAT
\n\/\/<\/p>\n
\nvmail1 = If( not IsEmpty ( _Email1Value);”EMAIL;INTERNET;” & LeftWords ( _Email1Label;1 ) & “:” & _Email1Value & “\u00b6”;”” );
\nvad1 = If( not IsEmpty (_Address1Street); “ADR;” & _Address1Label & “:;;” & Filter(Substitute ( _Address1Street;”\u00b6”;”\\n”) ; _FilterText) & “;” & _Address1City & “;” & _Address1State & “;” & _Address1Code & “;” & _Address1Country & “\u00b6”;””);
\nvorg = If( not IsEmpty (_Org);”ORG:” & _Org & “;” & _Dept & “\u00b6”;””);<\/p>\n
\n\/\/ AND THE FINAL FORMATTING<\/p>\n
\n“BEGIN:VCARD\u00b6VERSION:2.1\u00b6” &
\n“N:” & vname & “\u00b6” &
\n“FN:” & vfname & “\u00b6” &
\nvorg &
\nvtel1 & vtel2 & vtel3 &
\nvmail1 &
\nvad1 &
\nvtitle &
\n“END:VCARD”<\/p>\n