ContactsManager: select() method

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

Secure context: This feature is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS), in some or all supporting browsers.

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The select() method of the ContactsManager interface returns a Promise which, when resolved, presents the user with a contact picker which allows them to select contact(s) they wish to share. This method requires a user gesture for the Promise to resolve.

Syntax

js
select(properties)
select(properties, options)

Parameters

properties

An array of strings defining what information to retrieve from a contact. Allowed values are as follows:

  • 'name': The contact's name.
  • 'tel': The telephone number(s) of the contact.
  • 'email': The email address of the contact.
  • 'address': The contact's postal address.
  • 'icon': The avatar of the contact.
options Optional

Options are as follows:

multiple

A Boolean that allows multiple contacts to be selected. The default is false.

Return value

Returns a Promise that resolves with an array of objects containing contact information. Each object represents a single contact may contain the following properties:

address

An Array of ContactAddress objects, each containing specifics of a unique physical address.

email

An array of strings containing email addresses.

icon

An array of Blob objects containing images of an individual.

name

An array strings, each containing a unique name of an individual.

tel

An array strings, each containing a unique phone number of an individual.

Exceptions

InvalidStateError DOMException

Returned if the browsing context is not top-level, if the contact picker shows a flag that denotes an already existing contact picker since only one picker can exist at any time, or if launching a contact picker failed.

SecurityError DOMException

Returned if the method is not triggered by user activation.

TypeError

Returned if properties is empty, or if any of the specified properties are not supported.

Security

Transient activation is required. The user has to interact with the page or a UI element in order for this feature to work.

Examples

Basic Example

The following example sets an array of properties to be retrieved for each contact, as well as setting an options object to allow for multiple contacts to be selected.

An asynchronous function is then defined which uses the select() method to present the user with a contact picker interface and handle the chosen results. handleResults() is a developer defined function.

js
const props = ["name", "email", "tel", "address", "icon"];
const opts = { multiple: true };

async function getContacts() {
  try {
    const contacts = await navigator.contacts.select(props, opts);
    handleResults(contacts);
  } catch (ex) {
    // Handle any errors here.
  }
}

Select Using Only Supported Properties

The following example uses getProperties() to ensure that only supported properties are passed. Otherwise, select() might throw a TypeError. handleResults() is a developer defined function.

js
const supportedProperties = await navigator.contacts.getProperties();

async function getContacts() {
  try {
    const contacts = await navigator.contacts.select(supportedProperties);
    handleResults(contacts);
  } catch (ex) {
    // Handle any errors here.
  }
}

Specifications

Specification
Contact Picker API
# contacts-manager-select

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser