ABPeoplePicker selecting many and returning array of emails

Question

What I want to do:

1. Present the user with all the contacts on his device that have an email address in the contact.
2. Allow the user to select/deselect any number of contacts before hitting "done".
3. Return an array of the email addresses...or an array of dictionaries with all the contact info for the selected contacts.

What I have tried:

ABPeoplePicker but I am not able to get it to work with selecting multiple contacts.

Answer 1

I was able to do what I think you are describing with the following code:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <AddressBook/AddressBook.h>

@interface ELEViewController : UIViewController <UITableViewDataSource, UITableViewDelegate>
@end

@interface ELEViewController()
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSArray *arrayOfPeople;
@property (nonatomic, assign) CFArrayRef people;
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSMutableSet *selectedPeople;
@end

@implementation ELEViewController 
@synthesize arrayOfPeople = _arrayOfPeople;
@synthesize people = _people;
@synthesize selectedPeople = _selectedPeople;

- (NSMutableSet *) selectedPeople {
  if (_selectedPeople == nil) {
    _selectedPeople = [[NSMutableSet alloc] init];
  }
  return _selectedPeople;
}

- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning {
  [super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
}

- (void)viewDidLoad {
  [super viewDidLoad];

  UITableView *tableView = [[UITableView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(50, 50, 300, 300) 
                                                    style:UITableViewStylePlain];
  tableView.delegate = self;
  tableView.dataSource = self;
  [self.view addSubview:tableView];
  ABAddressBookRef addressBook = ABAddressBookCreate();
  self.people = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook);  
  self.arrayOfPeople = (__bridge_transfer NSArray*)ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook);
  [tableView reloadData];
}
- (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
  static NSString *CellIdentifier = @"ContactCell";

  UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
  if (cell == nil) {
    cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc] initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleDefault 
                              reuseIdentifier:CellIdentifier];
  }

  int index = indexPath.row;
  ABRecordRef person = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(self.people, index);
  NSString* firstName = (__bridge_transfer NSString*)ABRecordCopyValue(person,
                                                             kABPersonFirstNameProperty);
  NSString* lastName = (__bridge_transfer NSString*)ABRecordCopyValue(person,
                                                                  kABPersonLastNameProperty);
  NSString *name = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@", firstName, lastName];

  cell.textLabel.text = name;
  return cell;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section     {
  return self.arrayOfPeople.count;
}

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {

  [tableView deselectRowAtIndexPath:[tableView indexPathForSelectedRow] animated:NO];
  UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:indexPath];
  id person = [self.arrayOfPeople objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
  if (cell.accessoryType == UITableViewCellAccessoryNone) {
    cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryCheckmark;
    [self.selectedPeople addObject:person];
  } else if (cell.accessoryType == UITableViewCellAccessoryCheckmark) {
    cell.accessoryType = UITableViewCellAccessoryNone;
    [self.selectedPeople removeObject:person];
  }
  NSLog(@"%@", self.selectedPeople);  
}

@end

This shows the entire addressbook in a tableView and then selecting puts a checkmark next to the contact and adds them to an NSSet. Deselecting removes the checkmark and removes the entry from the NSSet. I add the entire ABPerson to the NSSet so you will still have to use the C API to work with it later on.

Answer 2

You can return NO for this delegate method:

- (BOOL)peoplePickerNavigationController:(ABPeoplePickerNavigationController *)peoplePicker 
shouldContinueAfterSelectingPerson:(ABRecordRef)person
{
    NSString* name = (__bridge_transfer NSString*)ABRecordCopyValue(person,
                      kABPersonFirstNameProperty);
    NSLog(@"Name %@", name);
    // Do stuff with the person record
    return NO;
}

This allows the user to select a number of people.