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This document defines the vCard data format for representing and exchanging a variety of information about an individual (e.g., formatted and structured name and delivery addresses, email address, multiple telephone numbers, photograph, logo, audio clips, etc.).
1.
Introduction
2.
Conventions
3.
MIME Type Registration
4.
vCard Format Specification
4.1.
Line Delimiting and Folding
4.2.
ABNF Format Definition
4.3.
Property Value Escaping
5.
Property Value Data Types
5.1.
TEXT
5.2.
URI
5.3.
DATE, TIME, and DATE-TIME
5.4.
BOOLEAN
5.5.
INTEGER
5.6.
FLOAT
5.7.
BINARY
5.8.
UTC-OFFSET
5.9.
LANGUAGE-TAG
6.
Property Parameters
6.1.
LANGUAGE
6.2.
ENCODING
6.3.
VALUE
6.4.
PREF
6.5.
PID
6.6.
TYPE
7.
vCard Properties
7.1.
General Properties
7.1.1.
BEGIN
7.1.2.
END
7.1.3.
SOURCE
7.1.4.
NAME
7.1.5.
KIND
7.2.
Identification Properties
7.2.1.
FN
7.2.2.
N
7.2.3.
NICKNAME
7.2.4.
PHOTO
7.2.5.
BDAY
7.2.6.
DDAY
7.2.7.
BIRTH
7.2.8.
DEATH
7.2.9.
GENDER
7.3.
Delivery Addressing Properties
7.3.1.
ADR
7.3.2.
LABEL
7.4.
Communications Properties
7.4.1.
TEL
7.4.2.
EMAIL
7.4.3.
IMPP
7.4.4.
LANG
7.5.
Geographical Properties
7.5.1.
TZ
7.5.2.
GEO
7.6.
Organizational Properties
7.6.1.
TITLE
7.6.2.
ROLE
7.6.3.
LOGO
7.6.4.
ORG
7.6.5.
MEMBER
7.6.6.
RELATED
7.7.
Explanatory Properties
7.7.1.
CATEGORIES
7.7.2.
NOTE
7.7.3.
PRODID
7.7.4.
REV
7.7.5.
SORT-STRING
7.7.6.
SOUND
7.7.7.
UID
7.7.8.
CLIENTPIDMAP
7.7.9.
URL
7.7.10.
VERSION
7.8.
Security Properties
7.8.1.
CLASS
7.8.2.
KEY
7.9.
Calendar Properties
7.9.1.
FBURL
7.9.2.
CALADRURI
7.9.3.
CALURI
7.10.
Extended Properties and Parameters
8.
Synchronization
8.1.
Mechanisms
8.1.1.
Matching vCard Instances
8.1.2.
Matching Property Instances
8.1.3.
PID Matching
8.2.
Example
8.2.1.
Creation
8.2.2.
Initial Sharing
8.2.3.
Adding and Sharing a Property
8.2.4.
Simultaneous Editing
8.2.5.
Global Context Simplification
9.
Formal Grammar
10.
Example: Authors' vCards
11.
Security Considerations
12.
IANA Considerations
12.1.
Registering New vCard Elements
12.1.1.
Registration Procedure
12.1.2.
Vendor Namespace
12.1.3.
Registration Template for Groups
12.1.4.
Registration Template for Properties
12.1.5.
Registration Template for Parameters
12.1.6.
Registration Template for Value Data Types
12.1.7.
Registration Template for Values
12.2.
Initial vCard Elements Registries
12.2.1.
Groups Registry
12.2.2.
Properties Registry
12.2.3.
Parameters Registry
12.2.4.
Value Data Types Registry
12.2.5.
Values Registries
13.
Acknowledgements
14.
References
14.1.
Normative References
14.2.
Informative References
Appendix A.
Differences from RFCs 2425 and 2426
A.1.
New Structure
A.2.
Removed Features
A.3.
New Properties and Parameters
A.4.
Other Changes
Appendix B.
Change Log (to be removed by RFC Editor prior to publication)
B.1.
Changes in -06
B.2.
Changes in -05
B.3.
Changes in -04
B.4.
Changes in -03
B.5.
Changes in -02
B.6.
Changes in -01
B.7.
Changes in -00
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Note: This draft contains much of the same text as 2425 and 2426 which may not be correct. Those two RFCs have been merged and the structure of this draft is what's new. Some vCard-specific suggestions have been added, but for the most part this is still very open. But we'd like to get feedback on the structure mostly so that it may be fixed.
Electronic address books have become ubiquitous. Their increased presense on portable, connected devices as well as the diversity of platforms exchanging contact data call for a standard. This memo defines the vCard format, which allows the capture and exchange of information normally stored within an address book or directory application.
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The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] (Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” March 1997.).
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- To:
- ietf-types@iana.org
- Subject:
- Registration of media type text/vcard
- Type name:
- text
- Subtype name:
- vcard
- Required parameters:
- none
- Optional parameters:
- charset
- Encoding considerations:
- The "charset" MIME parameter is interpreted as defined in [RFC2046] (Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, “Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types,” November 1996.), section 4.1.2. If it is omitted, the default encoding is UTF-8 as defined in [RFC3629] (Yergeau, F., “UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646,” November 2003.).
- Security considerations:
- See Section 11 (Security Considerations).
- Interoperability considerations:
- The text/vcard media type is intended to identify vCard data of any version. There are older specifications of vCard [RFC2426] (Dawson, F. and T. Howes, “vCard MIME Directory Profile,” September 1998.)[oldreference_VCARD] (Internet Mail Consortium, “vCard - The Electronic Business Card Version 2.1,” September September.) still in common use. While these formats are similar, they are not strictly compatible. In general, it is necessary to inspect the value of the VERSION property (see Section 7.7.10 (VERSION)) for identifying the standard to which a given vCard object conforms.
- In addition, the following media types are known to have been used to refer to vCard data. They should be considered deprecated in favor of text/vcard.
- text/directory
- text/directory; type=vcard
- text/x-vcard
- Published specification:
- draft-ietf-vcarddav-vcardrev-06
- Applications that use this media type:
- They are numerous, diverse, and include mail user agents, instant messaging clients, address book applications, directory servers, customer relationship management software, etc.
- Additional information:
- Magic number(s):
- File extension(s):
- .vcf
- Macintosh file type code(s):
- Person & email address to contact for further information:
- Simon Perreault <simon.perreault@viagenie.ca>
- Intended usage:
- COMMON
- Restrictions on usage:
- none
- Author:
- Simon Perreault and Pete Resnick
- Change controller:
- IETF
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The text/vcard MIME content type (hereafter known as "vCard") contains contact information, typically pertaining to a single contact or group of contacts. The content consists of one or more lines in the format given below.
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Individual lines within vCard are delimited by the [RFC2822] (Resnick, P., “Internet Message Format,” April 2001.) line break, which is a CRLF sequence (ASCII decimal 13, followed by ASCII decimal 10). Long logical lines of text can be split into a multiple-physical-line representation using the following folding technique. Content lines SHOULD be folded to a maximum width of 75 octets. Multi-octet characters MUST remain contiguous. The rationale for this folding process can be found in [RFC2822] (Resnick, P., “Internet Message Format,” April 2001.), Section 2.1.1.
A logical line MAY be continued on the next physical line anywhere between two characters by inserting a CRLF immediately followed by a single white space character (space, ASCII decimal 32, or horizontal tab, ASCII decimal 9). At least one character must be present on the folded line. Any sequence of CRLF followed immediately by a single white space character is ignored (removed) when processing the content type. For example the line:
DESCRIPTION:This is a long description that exists on a long line.
can be represented as:
DESCRIPTION:This is a long description
that exists on a long line.
It could also be represented as:
DESCRIPTION:This is a long descrip tion that exists o n a long line.
The process of moving from this folded multiple-line representation of a property definition to its single line representation is called unfolding. Unfolding is accomplished by regarding CRLF immediately followed by a white space character (namely HTAB ASCII decimal 9 or SPACE ASCII decimal 32) as equivalent to no characters at all (i.e., the CRLF and single white space character are removed).
Note: It is possible for very simple implementations to generate improperly folded lines in the middle of a UTF-8 multi-octet sequence. For this reason, implementations SHOULD unfold lines in such a way as to properly restore the original sequence.
Note: Unfolding is done differently than in [RFC2822] (Resnick, P., “Internet Message Format,” April 2001.). Unfolding in [RFC2822] (Resnick, P., “Internet Message Format,” April 2001.) only removes the CRLF, not the space following it.
Folding is done after any content encoding of a type value. Unfolding is done before any decoding of a type value in a content line.
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The following ABNF uses the notation of [RFC5234] (Crocker, D. and P. Overell, “Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF,” January 2008.), which also defines CRLF, WSP, DQUOTE, VCHAR, ALPHA, and DIGIT. After the unfolding of any folded lines as described above, the syntax for a line of this content type is as follows:
contentline = [group "."] name *(";" param) ":" value CRLF
; When parsing a content line, folded lines MUST first
; be unfolded according to the unfolding procedure
; described above.
; When generating a content line, lines longer than 75
; characters SHOULD be folded according to the folding
; procedure described above.
group = "WORK" / "HOME" / iana-token / x-name
name = x-name / iana-token
iana-token = 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "-")
; identifier registered with IANA
x-name = "x-" 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "-")
; Names that begin with "x-" or "X-" are
; reserved for experimental use, not intended for released
; products, or for use in bilateral agreements.
param = param-name "=" param-value *("," param-value)
param-name = x-name / iana-token
param-value = ptext / quoted-string
ptext = *SAFE-CHAR
value = *VALUE-CHAR
/ valuespec ; valuespec defined in section 5.8.4
quoted-string = DQUOTE *QSAFE-CHAR DQUOTE
NON-ASCII = %x80-FF
; use restricted by charset parameter
; on outer MIME object (UTF-8 preferred)
QSAFE-CHAR = WSP / %x21 / %x23-7E / NON-ASCII
; Any character except CTLs, DQUOTE
SAFE-CHAR = WSP / %x21 / %x23-2B / %x2D-39 / %x3C-7E / NON-ASCII
; Any character except CTLs, DQUOTE, ";", ":", ","
VALUE-CHAR = WSP / VCHAR / NON-ASCII
; any textual character
A line that begins with a white space character is a continuation of the previous line, as described above. The white space character and immediately preceeding CRLF should be discarded when reconstructing the original line. Note that this line-folding convention differs from that found in [RFC2822] (Resnick, P., “Internet Message Format,” April 2001.), in that the sequence <CRLF><WSP> found anywhere in the content indicates a continued line and should be removed.
Property names and parameter names are case insensitive (e.g., the property name "fn" is the same as "FN" and "Fn"). Parameter values MAY be case sensitive or case insensitive, depending on their definition.
The group construct is used to group related properties together. For example, groups named "WORK" and "HOME" could be used to segregate properties such as telephone number, address, etc. Displaying of groups is left entirely up to the application. Predefined groups with assigned meaning are listed in Section 12.2.1 (Groups Registry). It is possible to register new groups from IANA. Unregistered groups MAY be used and MUST start with "X-".
Properties defined in a vCard instance may have multiple values depending on the property cardinality. The general rule for encoding multi-valued properties is to simply create a new content line for each value (including the property name). However, it should be noted that some value types support encoding multiple values in a single content line by separating the values with a comma ",". This approach has been taken for several of the content types defined below (date, time, integer, float), for space-saving reasons.
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A property instance may contain one or more values delimited by a COMMA character (ASCII decimal 44). Therefore, a COMMA character in a value MUST be escaped with a BACKSLASH character (ASCII decimal 92), even for properties that don't allow multiple instances (for consistency).
Some properties (e.g. N and ADR) comprise multiple fields delimited by a SEMI-COLON character (ASCII decimal 59). Therefore, a SEMI-COLON in a field of such a "compound" property MUST be escaped with a BACKSLASH character. SEMI-COLON characters in non-compound properties MUST NOT be escaped.
Furthermore, some fields of compound properties may contain a list of values delimited by a COMMA character. Therefore, a COMMA character in one of a field's values MUST be escaped with a BACKSLASH character, even for fields that don't allow multiple values (for consistency). Compound properties allowing multiple instances MUST NOT be encoded in a single content line.
Finally, newline (ASCII decimal 10) and backslash (ASCII decimal 92) characters in values MUST be escaped by prefixing them with a backslash character.
In all other cases, escaping MUST NOT be used.
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Standard value types are defined below.
valuespec = text-list
/ URI ; from Appendix A of [RFC3986]
/ date-list
/ time-list
/ date-time-list
/ boolean
/ integer-list
/ float-list
/ binary
/ utc-offset
/ iana-valuespec
text-list = *TEXT-LIST-CHAR *("," *TEXT-LIST-CHAR)
TEXT-LIST-CHAR = "\\" / "\," / "\n"
/ <any VALUE-CHAR except , or \ or newline>
; Backslashes, newlines, and commas must be encoded.
; \n or \N can be used to encode a newline.
date-list = date *("," date)
time-list = time *("," time)
date-time-list = date "T" time *("," date "T" time)
boolean = "TRUE" / "FALSE"
integer-list = integer *("," integer)
integer = [sign] 1*DIGIT
float-list = float *("," float)
float = [sign] 1*DIGIT ["." 1*DIGIT]
sign = "+" / "-"
binary = <A "B" binary encoded string as defined by [RFC2047].>
date = date-fullyear ["-" date-month ["-" date-mday]]
date-fullyear = 4DIGIT
date-month = 2DIGIT ;01-12
date-mday = 2DIGIT ;01-28, 01-29, 01-30, 01-31
;based on month/year
time = time-hour [":" time-minute [":" time-second [time-secfrac]]]
[time-zone]
time-hour = 2DIGIT ;00-23
time-minute = 2DIGIT ;00-59
time-second = 2DIGIT ;00-60 (leap second)
time-secfrac = "," 1*DIGIT
time-zone = "Z" / time-numzone
time-numzome = sign time-hour [":"] time-minute
utc-offset = ("+" / "-") time-hour ":" time-minute
iana-valuespec = <a publicly-defined valuetype format, registered
with IANA, as defined in section 12 of this
document>
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"text": The "text" value type should be used to identify values that contain human-readable text. The character set in which the text is represented is controlled by the "charset" MIME type parameter. Note that there is no way to override this parameter on a per-property basis. As for the language, it is controlled by the "language" property parameter defined in Section 6.1 (LANGUAGE).
Examples for "text":
this is a text value
this is one value,this is another
this is a single value\, with a comma encoded
A formatted text line break in a text value type MUST be represented as the character sequence backslash (ASCII decimal 92) followed by a Latin small letter n (ASCII decimal 110) or a Latin capital letter N (ASCII decimal 78), that is "\n" or "\N".
For example a multiple line DESCRIPTION value of:
Mythical Manager
Hyjinx Software Division
BabsCo, Inc.
could be represented as:
DESCRIPTION:Mythical Manager\nHyjinx Software Division\n
BabsCo\, Inc.\n
demonstrating the \n literal formatted line break technique, the CRLF-followed-by-space line folding technique, and the backslash escape technique.
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"uri": The "uri" value type should be used to identify values that are referenced by a URI (including a Content-ID URI), instead of encoded in-line. These value references might be used if the value is too large, or otherwise undesirable to include directly. The format for the URI is as defined in [RFC3986] (Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, “Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax,” January 2005.). Note that the value of a property of type "uri" is what the URI points to, not the URI itself.
Examples for "uri":
http://www.example.com/my/picture.jpg
ldap://ldap.example.com/cn=babs%20jensen
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"date", "time", and "date-time": Each of these value types is based on a subset of the definitions in [ISO.8601.1988] (International Organization for Standardization, “Data elements and interchange formats - Information interchange - Representation of dates and times,” June 1988.) standard. Multiple "date" and "time" values can be specified using the comma-separated notation.
Examples for "date":
1985-04-12
1996-08-05,1996-11-11
19850412
Examples for "time":
10:22:00
102200
10:22:00.33
10:22:00.33Z
10:22:33,11:22:00
10:22:00-08:00
Examples for "date-time":
1996-10-22T14:00:00Z
1996-08-11T12:34:56Z
19960811T123456Z
1996-10-22T14:00:00Z,1996-08-11T12:34:56Z
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"boolean": The "boolean" value type is used to express boolen values. These values are case insensitive.
Examples:
TRUE
false
True
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"integer": The "integer" value type is used to express signed integers in decimal format. If sign is not specified, the value is assumed positive "+". Multiple "integer" values can be specified using the comma-separated notation.
Examples:
1234567890
-1234556790
+1234556790,432109876
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"float": The "float" value type is used to express real numbers. If sign is not specified, the value is assumed positive "+". Multiple "float" values can be specified using the comma-separated notation.
Examples:
20.30
1000000.0000001
1.333,3.14
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"binary": The "binary" value type specifies that the type value is inline, encoded binary data. This value type can be specified in the PHOTO, LOGO, SOUND, and KEY types.
If inline encoded binary data is specified, the ENCODING type parameter MUST be used to specify the encoding format. The binary data MUST be encoded using the "B" encoding format. Long lines of encoded binary data SHOULD BE folded to 75 characters using the folding method defined in Section 4.1 (Line Delimiting and Folding).
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"utc-offset": The "utc-offset" value type specifies that the type value is a signed offset from UTC. This value type can be specified in the TZ type.
The value type is an offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It is specified as a positive or negative difference in units of hours and minutes (e.g., +hh:mm). The time is specified as a 24-hour clock. Hour values are from 00 to 23, and minute values are from 00 to 59. Hour and minutes are 2-digits with high order zeroes required to maintain digit count. The extended format for ISO 8601 UTC offsets MUST be used. The extended format makes use of a colon character as a separator of the hour and minute text fields.
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"language-tag": A single language tag, as defined in [RFC4646] (Phillips, A. and M. Davis, “Tags for Identifying Languages,” September 2006.).
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A property can have attributes associated with it. These "property parameters" contain meta-information about the property or the property value.
Property parameter values that contain the COLON (US-ASCII decimal 58), SEMICOLON (US-ASCII decimal 59) or COMMA (US-ASCII decimal 44) character separators MUST be specified as quoted-string text values. Property parameter values MUST NOT contain the DQUOTE (US-ASCII decimal 22) character. The DQUOTE (US-ASCII decimal 22) character is used as a delimiter for parameter values that contain restricted characters or URI text. For example:
EMAIL;PID=8:jdoe@example.com
Property parameter values that are not in quoted strings are case insensitive.
The general property parameters defined by this memo are defined by the following notation:
vcardparameter = encodingparam
/ valuetypeparam
/ languageparam
/ pref-param
/ pid-param
encodingparam = "encoding" "=" encodingtype
encodingtype = "b" ; from [RFC2047]
/ iana-token ; registered as described in
; section 12 of this document
valuetypeparam = "value" "=" valuetype
valuetype = "uri" ; URI from Appendix A of [RFC3986]
/ "text"
/ "date"
/ "time"
/ "date-time" ; date time
/ "integer"
/ "boolean"
/ "float"
/ "language-tag"
/ x-name
/ iana-token ; registered as described in
; section 12 of this document
languageparam = "language" "=" Language-Tag
; Language-Tag is defined in section 2.1 of RFC 4646
pref-param = "pref" "=" pref-value
pref-value = 1*DIGIT
pid-param = ("pid" "=" pid-value *("," pid-value))
pid-value = 1*DIGIT
Applications MUST ignore x-param and iana-param value they don't recognize.
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The "language" property parameter is used to identify data in multiple languages. There is no concept of "default" language, except as specified by any "Content-Language" MIME header parameter that is present. The value of the "language" property parameter is a language tag as defined in Section 2 of [RFC4646] (Phillips, A. and M. Davis, “Tags for Identifying Languages,” September 2006.).
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The "encoding" property parameter is used to specify an alternate encoding for a value. If the value contains a CRLF, it must be encoded, since CRLF is used to separate lines in the content-type itself. Currently, only the "b" encoding is supported.
The "b" encoding can also be useful for binary values that are mixed with other text information in the body part (e.g., a certificate). Using a per-value "b" encoding in this case leaves the other information in a more readable form. The encoded base 64 value can be split across multiple physical lines by using the line folding technique described above.
The Content-Transfer-Encoding header field is used to specify the encoding used for the body part as a whole. The "encoding" property parameter is used to specify an encoding for a particular value (e.g., a certificate). In this case, the Content-Transfer-Encoding header might specify "8bit", while the one certificate value might specify an encoding of "b" via an "encoding=b" property parameter.
The Content-Transfer-Encoding and the encodings of individual properties given by the "encoding" property parameter are independent of one another. When encoding a text/vcard body part for transmission, individual property encodings are performed first, then the entire body part is encoded according to the Content-Transfer-Encoding. When decoding a text/vcard body part, the Content-Transfer-Encoding is decoded first, and then any individual properties with an "encoding" property parameter are decoded.
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The "value" parameter is optional, and is used to identify the value type (data type) and format of the value. The use of these predefined formats is encouraged even if the value parameter is not explicity used. By defining a standard set of value types and their formats, existing parsing and processing code can be leveraged. The predefined data type values MUST NOT be repeated in COMMA separated value lists except within the N, NICKNAME, ADR and CATEGORIES properties.
Including the value type explicitly as part of each property provides an extra hint to keep parsing simple and support more generalized applications. For example a search engine would not have to know the particular value types for all of the items for which it is searching. Because the value type is explicit in the definition, the search engine could look for dates in any item type and provide results that can still be interpreted.
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The "pref" parameter is optional, and is used to indicate that the corresponding instance of a property is preferred by the vCard author. Its value MUST be a strictly positive integer that quantifies the level of preferredness. Lower values correspond to a higher level of preferrredness, 1 being most preferred. The value zero MUST NOT be used.
When the parameter is absent, the default MUST be to interpret the property instance as being least preferred.
Note that the value of this parameter is to be interpreted only in relation to values assigned to other instances of the same property in the same vCard. A given value, or the absence of a value, MUST NOT be interpreted on its own.
This parameter MAY be applied to any property that allows multiple instances.
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The "pid" parameter is used to identify a specific property among multiple instances. It plays a role analogous to the UID property (Section 7.7.7 (UID)) on a per-property instead of per-vCard basis. It MAY appear more than once in a given property. It MUST NOT appear on properties that only may have one instance per vCard. Its value is either a single small integer, or a pair of small integers separated by a dot. Multiple values may be encoded in a single PID parameter by separating the values with a comma ",". See Section 8 (Synchronization) for more details on its usage.
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The "type" parameter has multiple, different uses. In general, it is a way of specifying class characteristics of the associated property. Most of the time, its value is a comma-separated subset of a pre-defined enumeration. In this document, the following properties make use of this parameter: PHOTO, ADR, LABEL, TEL, EMAIL, IMPP, LOGO, MEMBER, SOUND, and KEY.
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What follows is an enumeration of the standard vCard properties.
Property cardinalities are indicated using the following notation:
| Cardinality | Meaning |
|---|---|
| (1,1) | Exactly one instance per vCard MUST be present. |
| (0,1) | Exactly one instance per vCard MAY be present. |
| (1,n) | One or more instances per vCard MUST be present. |
| (0,n) | One or more instances per vCard MAY be present. |
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- Purpose:
- To denote the beginning of a syntactic entity within a text/vcard content-type.
- Value type:
- text
- Cardinality:
- (1,1)
- Special notes:
- The content entity MUST begin with the BEGIN property with a value of "VCARD".
- The BEGIN property is used in conjunction with the END property to delimit an entity containing a related set of properties within an text/vcard content-type. This construct can be used instead of or in addition to wrapping separate sets of information inside additional MIME headers. It is provided for applications that wish to define content that can contain multiple entities within the same text/vcard content-type or to define content that can be identifiable outside of a MIME environment.
- Example:
BEGIN:VCARD
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- Purpose:
- To denote the end of a syntactic entity within a text/vcard content-type.
- Value type:
- text
- Cardinality:
- (1,1)
- Special notes:
- The content entity MUST end with the END type with a value of "VCARD".
- The END property is used in conjunction with the BEGIN property to delimit an entity containing a related set of properties within an text/vcard content-type. This construct can be used instead of or in addition to wrapping separate sets of information inside additional MIME headers. It is provided for applications that wish to define content that can contain multiple entities within the same text/vcard content-type or to define content that can be identifiable outside of a MIME environment.
- Example:
END:VCARD
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- Purpose:
- To identify the source of directory information contained in the content type.
- Value type:
- uri
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The SOURCE property is used to provide the means by which applications knowledgable in the given directory service protocol can obtain additional or more up-to-date information from the directory service. It contains a URI as defined in [RFC3986] (Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, “Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax,” January 2005.) and/or other information referencing the vCard to which the information pertains. When directory information is available from more than one source, the sending entity can pick what it considers to be the best source, or multiple SOURCE properties can be included.
- Examples:
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- Purpose:
- To identify the displayable name of the directory entity to which information in the vCard pertains.
- Value type:
- text
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- The NAME property is used to convey the display name of the entity to which the directory information pertains. Its value is the displayable, presentation text associated with the source for the vCard, as specified in the SOURCE property.
- Example:
NAME:Babs Jensen's Contact Information
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- Purpose:
- To specify the kind of object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- The value may be one of: "individual" for a single person, "group" for a group of people, "org" for an organization, "location" for a named geographical place, an x-name or an iana-token. If this property is absent, "individual" MUST be assumed as default.
- Example:
This represents someone named Jane Doe working in the marketing department of the North American division of ABC Inc.
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 KIND:individual FN:Jane Doe ORG:ABC\, Inc.;North American Division;Marketing END:VCARDThis represents the department itself, commonly known as ABC Marketing.
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 KIND:org FN:ABC Marketing ORG:ABC\, Inc.;North American Division;Marketing END:VCARD
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These types are used to capture information associated with the identification and naming of the person or resource associated with the vCard.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the formatted text corresponding to the name of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (1,n)
- Special notes:
- This property is based on the semantics of the X.520 Common Name attribute. The property MUST be present in the vCard object.
- Example:
FN:Mr. John Q. Public\, Esq.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the components of the name of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single structured text value. Each component can have multiple values.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special note:
- The structured property value corresponds, in sequence, to the Surname, Given Names, Honorific Prefixes, and Honorific Suffixes. The text components are separated by the SEMI-COLON character (ASCII decimal 59). Individual text components can include multiple text values (e.g., multiple Additional Names) separated by the COMMA character (ASCII decimal 44). This property is based on the semantics of the X.520 individual name attributes. The property SHOULD be present in the vCard object when the name of the object the vCard represents follows the X.520 model.
- Examples:
N:Public;John,Q.;Mr.;Esq. N:Stevenson;John,Philip,Paul;Dr.;Jr.,M.D.,A.C.P.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the text corresponding to the nickname of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- One or more text values separated by a COMMA character (ASCII decimal 44).
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special note:
- The nickname is the descriptive name given instead of or in addition to the one belonging to a person, place, or thing. It can also be used to specify a familiar form of a proper name specified by the FN or N properties.
- Examples:
NICKNAME:Robbie NICKNAME:Jim,Jimmie WORK.NICKNAME:Boss
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- Purpose:
- To specify an image or photograph information that annotates some aspect of the object the vCard represents.
- Encoding:
- The encoding MUST be reset to "b" using the ENCODING parameter in order to specify inline, encoded binary data. If the value is referenced by a URI value, then the default encoding is used and no explicit ENCODING parameter is needed.
- Value type:
- A single value. The default is binary value. It can also be reset to uri value. The uri value can be used to specify a value outside of this MIME entity.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property SHOULD include the parameter "TYPE" to specify the graphic image format type. The TYPE parameter value MUST be an image media type as specified in [RFC4288] (Freed, N. and J. Klensin, “Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures,” December 2005.). The full media type name, including the "image/" prefix, should be used. However, implementations SHOULD be able to handle bare subtypes.
- Example:
PHOTO;VALUE=uri:http://www.example.com/pub/photos /jqpublic.gif PHOTO;ENCODING=b;TYPE=image/jpeg:MIICajCCAdOgAwIBAgICBEUwDQYJKo ZIhvcNAQEEBQAwdzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxLDAqBgNVBAoTI05ldHNjYXBlIENv bW11bmljYXRpb25zIENvcnBvcmF0aW9uMRwwGgYDVQQLExNJbmZvcm1hdGlvbi <...remainder of "B" encoded binary data...>
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- Purpose:
- To specify the birth date of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- The default is a single date value. It can also be reset to a single date-time or text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Examples:
BDAY:1996-04-15 BDAY:1953-10-15T23:10:00Z BDAY;VALUE=text:circa 1800
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- Purpose:
- To specify the date of death of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- The default is a single date value. It can also be reset to a single date-time or text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
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- Purpose:
- To specify the place of birth of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Example:
BIRTH:Babies'R'Us Hospital
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- Purpose:
- To specify the place of death of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Example:
DEATH:Aboard the Titanic\, near Newfoundland
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- Purpose:
- To specify the gender of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- The value "M" stands for male while "F" stands for female. IANA-registered values and x-names are also allowed.
- Example:
GENDER:F
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These types are concerned with information related to the delivery addressing or label for the vCard object.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the components of the delivery address for the vCard object.
- Value type:
- A single structured text value, separated by the SEMI-COLON character (ASCII decimal 59).
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The structured type value consists of a sequence of address components. The component values MUST be specified in their corresponding position. The structured type value corresponds, in sequence, to the post office box; the extended address (e.g. apartment or suite number); the street address; the locality (e.g., city); the region (e.g., state or province); the postal code; the country name. When a component value is missing, the associated component separator MUST still be specified.
- The text components are separated by the SEMI-COLON character (ASCII decimal 59). Where it makes semantic sense, individual text components can include multiple text values (e.g., a "street" component with multiple lines) separated by the COMMA character (ASCII decimal 44).
- The property can include the "PREF" parameter to indicate the preferred delivery address when more than one address is specified.
Example: In this example the post office box and the extended address are absent.
ADR:;;123 Main Street;Any Town;CA;91921-1234
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- Purpose:
- To specify the formatted text corresponding to delivery address of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The property value is formatted text that can be used to present a delivery address label for the vCard object. The property can include the "PREF" parameter to indicate the preferred delivery address when more than one address is specified.
Example: A multi-line address label.
LABEL:Mr.John Q. Public\, Esq.\nMail Drop: TNE QB\n
123 Main Street\nAny Town\, CA 91921-1234\nU.S.A.
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These properties are concerned with information associated with the way communications with the object the vCard represents are carried out.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the telephone number for telephony communication with the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single URI value. It is expected that the URI scheme will be "tel", as specified in [RFC3966] (Schulzrinne, H., “The tel URI for Telephone Numbers,” December 2004.), but other schemes MAY be used.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property is based on the X.520 Telephone Number attribute.
- The property can include the "PREF" parameter to indicate a prefered-use telephone number.
- The property can include the parameter "TYPE" to specify intended use for the telephone number. The TYPE parameter values can include: "text" to indicate the telephone number supports text messages, "voice" to indicate a voice telephone number, "fax" to indicate a facsimile telephone number, "cell" to indicate a cellular telephone number, "video" to indicate a video conferencing telephone number, "pager" to indicate a paging device telephone number. The default type is "voice". These type parameter values can be specified as a parameter list (i.e., "TYPE=text;TYPE=voice") or as a value list (i.e., "TYPE=text,voice"). The default can be overridden to another set of values by specifying one or more alternate values. For example, the default TYPE of "voice" can be reset to a VOICE and FAX telephone number by the value list "TYPE=voice,fax".
Example:
WORK.TEL;PREF=1;TYPE=voice,msg:tel:+1-555-555-5555;ext=5555
HOME.TEL:tel:+33-01-23-45-67
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- Purpose:
- To specify the electronic mail address for communication with the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The property can include tye "PREF" parameter to indicate a preferred-use email address when more than one is specified.
Type example:
WORK.EMAIL:jqpublic@xyz.example.com
EMAIL;PREF=1:jane_doe@example.com
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- Purpose:
- To specify the URI for instant messaging and presence protocol communications with the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single URI.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The property may include the "PREF" parameter to indicate that this is a preferred address and has the same semantics as the "PREF" parameter in a TEL property.
- Example:
IMPP;PREF=1:xmpp:alice@example.com
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- Purpose:
- To specify the language(s) that may be used for contacting the individual associated with the vCard.
- Value type:
- A single language-tag value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Example:
WORK.LANG;PREF=1:en WORK.LANG;PREF=2:fr HOME.LANG=fr
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These properties are concerned with information associated with geographical positions or regions associated with the object the vCard represents.
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- Purpose:
- To specify information related to the time zone of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- The default is a single utc-offset value. It can also be reset to a single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The type value consists of a single value.
Type examples:
TZ:-05:00
TZ;VALUE=text:-05:00; EST; Raleigh/North America
;This example has a single value, not a structure text value.
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- Purpose:
- To specify information related to the global positioning of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single structured value consisting of two float values separated by the SEMI-COLON character (ASCII decimal 59).
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property specifies information related to the global position of the object associated with the vCard. The value specifies latitude and longitude, in that order (i.e., "LAT LON" ordering). The longitude represents the location east and west of the prime meridian as a positive or negative real number, respectively. The latitude represents the location north and south of the equator as a positive or negative real number, respectively. The longitude and latitude values MUST be expressed in the [WGS84] (National Imagery and Mapping Agency, “Department of Defense World Geodetic System 1984, Third Edition,” January 2000.) reference system. They MUST be specified as decimal degrees and should be specified to six decimal places. This will allow for granularity within a meter of the geographical position. The text components are separated by the SEMI-COLON character (ASCII decimal 59). The simple formula for converting degrees-minutes-seconds into decimal degrees is:
decimal = degrees + minutes/60 + seconds/3600.
Example:
GEO:37.386013;-122.082932
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These properties are concerned with information associated with characteristics of the organization or organizational units of the object the vCard represents.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the job title, functional position or function of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property is based on the X.520 Title attribute.
Example:
TITLE:Director\, Research and Development
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- Purpose:
- To specify information concerning the role, occupation, or business category of the object the vCard represents.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property is based on the X.520 Business Category explanatory attribute. This property is included as an organizational type to avoid confusion with the semantics of the TITLE property and incorrect usage of that property when the semantics of this property is intended.
Example:
ROLE:Programmer
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- Purpose:
- To specify a graphic image of a logo associated with the object the vCard represents.
- Encoding:
- The encoding MUST be reset to "b" using the ENCODING parameter in order to specify inline, encoded binary data. If the value is referenced by a URI value, then the default encoding of 8bit is used and no explicit ENCODING parameter is needed.
- Value type:
- A single value. The default is binary value. It can also be reset to uri value. The uri value can be used to specify a value outside of this MIME entity.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property SHOULD include the parameter "TYPE" to specify the graphic image format type. The TYPE parameter value MUST be an image media type as specified in [RFC4288] (Freed, N. and J. Klensin, “Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures,” December 2005.). The full media type name, including the "image/" prefix, should be used. However, implementations SHOULD be able to handle bare subtypes.
Example:
LOGO;VALUE=uri:http://www.example.com/pub/logos/abccorp.jpg LOGO;ENCODING=b;TYPE=image/jpeg:MIICajCCAdOgAwIBAgICBEUwDQYJKoZ AQEEBQAwdzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxLDAqBgNVBAoTI05ldHNjYXBlIENvbW11bm ljYXRpb25zIENvcnBvcmF0aW9uMRwwGgYDVQQLExNJbmZvcm1hdGlvbiBTeXN0 <...the remainder of "B" encoded binary data...>
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- Purpose:
- To specify the organizational name and units associated with the vCard.
- Value type:
- A single structured text value consisting of components separated the SEMI-COLON character (ASCII decimal 59).
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The property is based on the X.520 Organization Name and Organization Unit attributes. The property value is a structured type consisting of the organization name, followed by one or more levels of organizational unit names.
Example: A property value consisting of an organizational name, organizational unit #1 name and organizational unit #2 name.
ORG:ABC\, Inc.;North American Division;Marketing
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- Purpose:
- To include a member in the group this vCard represents.
- Value tpe:
- A single URI. It MAY refer to something other than a vCard object. For example, an e-mail distribution list could employ the "mailto" URI scheme for efficiency.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property MUST NOT be present unless the value of the KIND property is "group".
Examples:
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 KIND:group FN:The Doe family MEMBER:urn:uuid:03a0e51f-d1aa-4385-8a53-e29025acd8af MEMBER:urn:uuid:b8767877-b4a1-4c70-9acc-505d3819e519 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 FN:John Doe UID:urn:uuid:03a0e51f-d1aa-4385-8a53-e29025acd8af END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 FN:Jane Doe UID:urn:uuid:b8767877-b4a1-4c70-9acc-505d3819e519 END:VCARD
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 KIND:group FN:Funky distribution list MEMBER:mailto:subscriber1@example.com MEMBER:xmpp:subscriber2@example.com MEMBER:sip:subscriber3@example.com MEMBER:tel:+1-418-555-5555 END:VCARD
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- Purpose:
- To specify a relationship the individual this vCard represents has with another.
- Value type:
- A single URI. It can also be reset to a single text value. The text value can be used to specify textual information.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The TYPE parameter MAY be used to characterize the related individual. The understood types are:
Other types may be registered to IANA as described in Section 12.1 (Registering New vCard Elements), and private extensions starting with "X-" may be used.
- "parent" means that the related individual is the parent of the individual this vCard represents.
- "child" means the opposite of "parent".
- "sibling" means that the two individuals are siblings.
- "manager" means that the related individual is the direct hierarchical superior (i.e. supervisor or manager) of the individual this vCard represents.
- "assistant" for an assistant or secretary.
- "agent" for a person who will act on behalf of the individual or resource associated with the vCard.
Examples:
RELATED;TYPE=manager:urn:uuid:f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6 RELATED;TYPE=assistant:http://example.com/directory/jdoe.vcf RELATED;TYPE=agent;VALUE=text:Please contact my assistant Jane Doe for any inquiries.
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These properties are concerned with additional explanations, such as that related to informational notes or revisions specific to the vCard.
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- Purpose:
- To specify application category information about the vCard.
- Value type:
- One or more text values separated by a COMMA character (ASCII decimal 44).
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
Example:
CATEGORIES:TRAVEL AGENT
CATEGORIES:INTERNET,IETF,INDUSTRY,INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
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- Purpose:
- To specify supplemental information or a comment that is associated with the vCard.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- The property is based on the X.520 Description attribute.
Example:
NOTE:This fax number is operational 0800 to 1715
EST\, Mon-Fri.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the identifier for the product that created the vCard object.
- Type value:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- Implementations SHOULD use a method such as that specified for Formal Public Identifiers in [ISO9070] (The International Organization for Standardization, “ISO 9070, Information Processing - SGML support facilities - Registration Procedures for Public Text Owner Identifiers,” April 1991.) or for Universal Resource Names in [RFC3406] (Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom, “Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms,” October 2002.) to assure that the text value is unique.
Example:
PRODID:-//ONLINE DIRECTORY//NONSGML Version 1//EN
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- Purpose:
- To specify revision information about the current vCard.
- Value type:
- The default is a single date-time value. Can also be reset to a single date value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- The value distinguishes the current revision of the information in this vCard for other renditions of the information.
Example:
REV:1995-10-31T22:27:10Z
REV:1997-11-15
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- Purpose:
- To specify the family name or given name text to be used for national-language-specific sorting of the FN and N types.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- The sort string is used to provide family name or given name text that is to be used in locale- or national-language- specific sorting of the formatted name and structured name types. Without this information, sorting algorithms could incorrectly sort this vCard within a sequence of sorted vCards. When this property is present in a vCard, then this family name or given name value is used for sorting the vCard.
Examples: For the case of family name sorting, the following examples define common sort string usage with the FN and N properties.
FN:Rene van der Harten
N:van der Harten;Rene;J.;Sir;R.D.O.N.
SORT-STRING:Harten
FN:Robert Pau Shou Chang
N:Pau;Shou Chang;Robert
SORT-STRING:Pau
FN:Osamu Koura
N:Koura;Osamu
SORT-STRING:Koura
FN:Oscar del Pozo
N:del Pozo Triscon;Oscar
SORT-STRING:Pozo
FN:Chistine d'Aboville
N:d'Aboville;Christine
SORT-STRING:Aboville
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- Purpose:
- To specify a digital sound content information that annotates some aspect of the vCard. By default this property is used to specify the proper pronunciation of the name property value of the vCard.
- Encoding:
- The encoding MUST be reset to "b" using the ENCODING parameter in order to specify inline, encoded binary data. If the value is referenced by a URI value, then the default encoding of 8bit is used and no explicit ENCODING parameter is needed.
- Value type:
- A single value. The default is binary value. It can also be reset to uri value. The uri value can be used to specify a value outside of this MIME entity.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property SHOULD include the parameter "TYPE" to specify the audio format type. The TYPE parameter value MUST be an audio media type as specified in [RFC4288] (Freed, N. and J. Klensin, “Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures,” December 2005.). The full media type name, including the "audio/" prefix, should be used. However, implementations SHOULD be able to handle bare subtypes.
Example:
SOUND;TYPE=audio/basic;VALUE=uri:CID:JOHNQPUBLIC.part8. 19960229T080000.xyzMail@example.com SOUND;TYPE=audio/basic;ENCODING=b:MIICajCCAdOgAwIBAgICBEUwDQYJK AQEEBQAwdzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxLDAqBgNVBAoTI05ldHNjYXBlIENvbW11bm ljYXRpb25zIENvcnBvcmF0aW9uMRwwGgYDVQQLExNJbmZvcm1hdGlvbiBTeXN0 <...the remainder of "B" encoded binary data...>
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- Purpose:
- To specify a value that represents a globally unique identifier corresponding to the individual or resource associated with the vCard.
- Value type:
- A single URI value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- This property is used to uniquely identify the object that the vCard represents. The "uuid" URN namespace defined in [RFC4122] (Leach, P., Mealling, M., and R. Salz, “A Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace,” July 2005.) is particularly well-suited to this task, but other URI schemes MAY be used.
Example:
UID:urn:uuid:f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6
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- Purpose:
- To give a global meaning to a local PID source identifier.
- Value type:
- A semicolon-separated pair of values. The first field is a small integer corresponding to the second field of a PID parameter instance. The second field is a URI. The "uuid" URN namespace defined in [RFC4122] (Leach, P., Mealling, M., and R. Salz, “A Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace,” July 2005.) is particularly well-suited to this task, but other URI schemes MAY be used.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- PID source identifiers (the source identifier is the second field in a PID parameter instance) are small integers that only have significance within the scope of a single vCard instance. Each distinct source identifier present in a vCard MUST have an associated CLIENTPIDMAP. See Section 8 (Synchronization) for more details on the usage of CLIENTPIDMAP.
- PID source identifiers MUST be strictly positive. Zero is not allowed.
- As a special exception, the PID parameter MUST NOT be applied to this property.
Example:
TEL;PID=3.1,4.2:tel:+1-555-555-5555 EMAIL;PID=4.1,5.2:jdoe@example.com CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:3df403f4-5924-4bb7-b077-3c711d9eb34b CLIENTPIDMAP:2;urn:uuid:d89c9c7a-2e1b-4832-82de-7e992d95faa5
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- Purpose:
- To specify a uniform resource locator associated with the object that the vCard refers to.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Value type:
- A single uri value.
Example:
URL:http://example.org/restaurant.french/~chezchic.html
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- Purpose:
- To specify the version of the vCard specification used to format this vCard.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (1,1)
- Special notes:
- The property MUST be present in the vCard object. The value MUST be "4.0" if the vCard corresponds to this specification.
Example:
VERSION:4.0
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These properties are concerned with the security of communication pathways or access to the vCard.
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- Purpose:
- To specify the access classification for a vCard object.
- Value type:
- A single text value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,1)
- Special notes:
- An access classification is only one component of the general security model for a directory service. The classification attribute provides a method of capturing the intent of the owner for general access to information described by the vCard object.
- Predefined values are:
- PUBLIC:
- This vCard MAY be shared with anyone.
- PRIVATE:
- This vCard MUST NOT be shared. It MAY be exported if explictly authorized and requested by the creator.
- CONFIDENTIAL:
- This vCard MAY be shared with allowed users or systems. The exact confidentiality level is site-specific and out of scope for the vCard specification.
Examples:
CLASS:PUBLIC
CLASS:PRIVATE
CLASS:CONFIDENTIAL
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- Purpose:
- To specify a public key or authentication certificate associated with the object that the vCard represents.
- Encoding:
- The encoding MUST be reset to "b" using the ENCODING parameter in order to specify inline, encoded binary data. If the value is a text value, then the default encoding of 8bit is used and no explicit ENCODING parameter is needed.
- Value type:
- A single value. The default is binary. It can also be reset to uri value. The uri value can be used to specify a value outside of this MIME entity. In this case, the key's media type is obtained externally (e.g. with the HTTP Content-Type header) instead of with the TYPE parameter.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- This property SHOULD include the parameter "TYPE" to specify the public key or authentication certificate format. The TYPE parameter value MUST be a media type as specified in [RFC4288] (Freed, N. and J. Klensin, “Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures,” December 2005.).
Examples:
KEY;VALUE=uri:http://www.example.com/keys/jdoe KEY;TYPE=application/pgp-keys;ENCODING=b:mQGiBEbEPUsRBACBF0RSIN mGutdM+KSAl7HMzwXHaLbvEOyu8At80I8qGejhzWowKbfem3X0m68Y/vhb+J2g 7q11KHpnEdNb67uZaj9nTQ09Q+UFtH25qD/Afn3+9bOJQaPjAUYzXu3vD/xmN8 <...remainder of "B" encoded binary data...>
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These properties are further specified in [RFC2739] (Small, T., Hennessy, D., and F. Dawson, “Calendar Attributes for vCard and LDAP,” January 2000.).
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- Purpose:
- To specify the URI for a user's busy time in a vCard object.
- Value type:
- A single URI value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- Where multiple FBURL properties are specified, the default FBURL property is indicated with the PREF parameter. The FTP or HTTP type of URI points to an iCalendar object associated with a snapshot of the last six weeks of the user's busy time data. If the iCalendar object is represented as a file or document, it's file type should be "ifb".
- Examples:
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- Purpose:
- To specify the location to which an event request should be sent for the user.
- Value type:
- A single URI value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- Where multiple CALADRURI properties are specified, the default CALADRURI property is indicated with the PREF parameter.
- Example:
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- Purpose:
- To specify the URI for a user's calendar in a vCard object.
- Value type:
- A single URI value.
- Cardinality:
- (0,n)
- Special notes:
- Where multiple CALURI properties are specified, the default CALURI property is indicated with the PREF parameter. The property should contain a URI pointing to an iCalendar object associated with a snapshot of the user's calendar store. If the iCalendar object is represented as a file or document, it's file type should be "ics".
- Examples:
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The properties and parameters defined by this document can be extended. Non-standard, private properties and parameters with a name starting with "X-" may be defined bilaterally between two cooperating agents without outside registration or standardization.
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vCard data often needs to be synchronized between devices. In this context, synchronization is defined as the intelligent merging of two representations of the same object. vCard 4.0 includes mechanisms to aid this process.
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Two mechanisms are available: the UID property is used to match multiple instances of the same vCard, while the PID parameter is used to match multiple instances of the same property.
The term "matching" is used here to mean recognizing that two instances are in fact representations of the same object. For example, a single vCard that is shared with someone results in two vCard instances. After they have evolved separately, they still represent the same object, and therefore may be matched by a synchronization engine.
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vCard instances for which the UID properties (Section 7.7.7 (UID)) are equivalent MUST be matched. Equivalence is determined as specified in [RFC3986] (Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, “Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax,” January 2005.), Section 6.
In all other cases, vCard instances MAY be matched at the discretion of the synchronization engine.
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Property instances belonging to unmatched vCards MUST NOT be matched.
Property instances whose name (e.g. EMAIL, TEL, etc.) is not the same MUST NOT be matched.
Property instances whose name is CLIENTPIDMAP are handled separately and MUST NOT be matched. The synchronization MUST ensure that there is consistency of CLIENTPIDMAPs among matched vCard instances.
Property instances belonging to matched vCards, whose name is the same, and whose maximum cardinality is 1 MUST be matched.
Property instances belonging to matched vCards, whose name is the same, and whose PID parameters match MUST be matched. See Section 8.1.3 (PID Matching) for details on PID matching.
In all other cases, property instances MAY be matched at the discretion of the synchronization engine.
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Two PID values for which the first fields are equivalent represent the same local value.
Two PID values representing the same local value and for which the second fields point to CLIENTPIDMAP properties whose second field URIs are equivalent (as specified in [RFC3986] (Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, “Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax,” January 2005.), Section 6) also represent the same global value.
PID parameters for which at least one pair of their values represent the same global value MUST be matched.
In all other cases, PID parameters MAY be matched at the discretion of the synchronization engine.
For example, PID value "5.1", in the first vCard below, and PID value "6.2", in the second vCard below, represent the same global value.
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 EMAIL;PID=4.2,5.1:jdoe@example.com CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:3eef374e-7179-4196-a914-27358c3e6527 CLIENTPIDMAP:2;urn:uuid:42bcd5a7-1699-4514-87b4-056edf68e9cc END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 EMAIL;PID=5.1,6.2:john@example.com CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:0c75c629-6a8d-4d5e-a07f-1bb35846854d CLIENTPIDMAP:2;urn:uuid:3eef374e-7179-4196-a914-27358c3e6527 END:VCARD
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| TOC |
The following simple vCard is first created on a given device.
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 UID:urn:uuid:4fbe8971-0bc3-424c-9c26-36c3e1eff6b1 FN:J. Doe EMAIL;PID=1.1:jdoe@example.com CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:53e374d9-337e-4727-8803-a1e9c14e0556 END:VCARD
This new vCard is assigned the UID "urn:uuid:4fbe8971-0bc3-424c-9c26-36c3e1eff6b1" by the creating device. The EMAIL property is assigned PID 1, and this PID is given global context by associating it with "urn:uuid:53e374d9-337e-4727-8803-a1e9c14e0556", which represents the creating device. The FN property has no PID because it is forbidden by its maximum cardinality of 1.
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This vCard is shared with a second device. Upon inspecting the UID property, the second device understands that this is a new vCard (i.e. unmatched) and thus the synchronization results in a simple copy.
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A new phone number is created on the first device, then the vCard is shared with the second device. This is what the second device receives:
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 UID:urn:uuid:4fbe8971-0bc3-424c-9c26-36c3e1eff6b1 FN:J. Doe EMAIL;PID=1.1:jdoe@example.com TEL;PID=1.1:tel:+1-555-555-5555 CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:53e374d9-337e-4727-8803-a1e9c14e0556 END:VCARD
Upon inspecting the UID property, the second device matches the vCard it received to the vCard that it already has stored. It then starts comparing the properties of the two vCards in same-named pairs.
The FN properties are matched automatically because their maximum cardinality is 1. Since the property value is the same, no update takes place.
The EMAIL properties are matched because the PID parameters have the same global value. Since the property value is the same, no update takes place.
The TEL property in the new vCard is not matched to any in the stored vCard because no property in the stored vCard has the same name. Therefore, this property is copied from the new vCard to the stored vCard.
The CLIENTPIDMAP property is handled separately by the synchronization engine. It ensures that it is consistent with the stored one. If it was not, the results would be up to the synchronization engine, and thus undefined by this document.
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A new email address and a new phone number are added to the vCard on each of the two devices, and then a new synchronization event happens. Here are the vCards that are communicated to each other:
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 UID:urn:uuid:4fbe8971-0bc3-424c-9c26-36c3e1eff6b1 FN:J. Doe EMAIL;PID=1.1:jdoe@example.com EMAIL;PID=2.1:boss@example.com TEL;PID=1.1:tel:+1-555-555-5555 TEL;PID=2.1:tel:+1-666-666-6666 CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:53e374d9-337e-4727-8803-a1e9c14e0556 END:VCARD BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 UID:urn:uuid:4fbe8971-0bc3-424c-9c26-36c3e1eff6b1 FN:J. Doe EMAIL;PID=1.1:jdoe@example.com EMAIL;PID=2.2:ceo@example.com TEL;PID=1.1:tel:+1-555-555-5555 TEL;PID=2.2:tel:+1-666-666-6666 CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:53e374d9-337e-4727-8803-a1e9c14e0556 CLIENTPIDMAP:2;urn:uuid:1f762d2b-03c4-4a83-9a03-75ff658a6eee END:VCARD
On the first device, the same PID source identifier (1) is reused for the new EMAIL and TEL properties. On the second device, a new source identifier (2) is generated, and a corresponding CLIENTPIDMAP property is created. It contains the second device's identifier, "urn:uuid:1f762d2b-03c4-4a83-9a03-75ff658a6eee".
The new EMAIL properties are unmatched on both sides since the PID global value is new in both cases. The sync thus results in a copy on both sides.
Although the situation appears to be the same for the TEL properties, in this case the synchronization engine is particularly smart and matches the two new TEL properties even though their PID global values are different. Note that in this case, the rules of section Section 8.1.2 (Matching Property Instances) state that two properties may be matched at the discretion of the synchronization engine. Therefore, the two properties are merged.
All this results in the following vCard which is stored on both devices:
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 UID:urn:uuid:4fbe8971-0bc3-424c-9c26-36c3e1eff6b1 FN:J. Doe EMAIL;PID=1.1:jdoe@example.com EMAIL;PID=2.1:boss@example.com EMAIL;PID=2.2:ceo@example.com TEL;PID=1.1:tel:+1-555-555-5555 TEL;PID=2.1,2.2:tel:+1-666-666-6666 CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:53e374d9-337e-4727-8803-a1e9c14e0556 CLIENTPIDMAP:2;urn:uuid:1f762d2b-03c4-4a83-9a03-75ff658a6eee END:VCARD
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The two devices finish their synchronization procedure by simplifying their global contexts. Since they haven't talked to any other device, the following vCard is for all purposes equivalent to the above. It is also shorter.
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 UID:urn:uuid:4fbe8971-0bc3-424c-9c26-36c3e1eff6b1 FN:J. Doe EMAIL;PID=1.1:jdoe@example.com EMAIL;PID=2.1:boss@example.com EMAIL;PID=3.1:ceo@example.com TEL;PID=1.1:tel:+1-555-555-5555 TEL;PID=2.1:tel:+1-666-666-6666 CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:53e374d9-337e-4727-8803-a1e9c14e0556 END:VCARD
The details of global context simplification are unspecified by this document. They are left up to the synchronization engine. This example is merely intended to illustrate the possibility, which investigating would be, in the authors' opinion, worthwhile.
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The following formal grammar is provided to assist developers in building parsers for the vCard.
This syntax is written according to the form described in [RFC5234] (Crocker, D. and P. Overell, “Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF,” January 2008.), but it references just this small subset of [RFC5234] (Crocker, D. and P. Overell, “Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF,” January 2008.) literals:
;*******************************************
; Basic vCard Definition
;*******************************************
vcard-entity = 1*(vcard)
vcard = "BEGIN" ":" "VCARD" 1*CRLF
1*(contentline)
;A vCard object MUST include the VERSION and FN properties.
"END" ":" "VCARD" 1*CRLF
contentline = [group "."] name *(";" param ) ":" value CRLF
; When parsing a content line, folded lines must first
; be unfolded according to the unfolding procedure
; described above. When generating a content line, lines
; longer than 75 characters SHOULD be folded according to
; the folding procedure described in [MIME DIR].
group = "WORK" / "HOME" / iana-token / x-name
name = iana-token / x-name
; Parsing of the param and value is
; based on the "name" or type identifier
; as defined in ABNF sections below
iana-token = 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "-")
; vCard type or parameter identifier registered with IANA
x-name = "X-" 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "-")
; Reserved for non-standard use
param = param-name "=" param-value *("," param-value)
param-name = iana-token / x-name
param-value = ptext / quoted-string
ptext = *SAFE-CHAR
value = *VALUE-CHAR
quoted-string = DQUOTE QSAFE-CHAR DQUOTE
NON-ASCII = %x80-FF
; Use is restricted by outer MIME object (UTF-8 preferred)
QSAFE-CHAR = WSP / %x21 / %x23-7E / NON-ASCII
; Any character except CTLs, DQUOTE
SAFE-CHAR = WSP / %x21 / %x23-2B / %x2D-39 / %x3C-7E / NON-ASCII
; Any character except CTLs, DQUOTE, ";", ":", ","
VALUE-CHAR = WSP / VCHAR / NON-ASCII
; Any textual character
;*******************************************
; vCard Property Definitions
;
; Provides property-specific definitions for how the
; "value" and "param" are defined.
;*******************************************
; **** NAME ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = text-value
; **** KIND ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = kind-value
kind-value = "individual" / "group" / "org" / x-name / iana-token
; **** PROFILE ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = text-value
; Value MUST be the case insensitive value "VCARD
; **** SOURCE ****
param = source-param / pid-param
value = uri
source-param = ("VALUE" "=" "uri")
/ (x-name "=" *SAFE-CHAR)
; **** FN ****
;This type MUST be included in a vCard object.
param = text-param
; Text parameters allowed
value = text-value
; **** N ****
param = text-param
; Text parameters allowed
value = n-value
n-value = 0*3(text-value *("," text-value) ";")
text-value *("," text-value)
; Surname; Given Names; Prefix; Suffix.
; **** NICKNAME ****
param = text-param / pid-param
; Text parameters allowed
value = text-value-list
; **** PHOTO ****
param = pid-param / img-inline-param / img-refer-param
value = img-inline-value
; Value and parameter MUST match
value =/ img-refer-value
; Value and parameter MUST match
; **** BDAY ****
param = ("VALUE" "=" "date")
; Only value parameter allowed
param =/ ("VALUE" "=" "date-time")
; Only value parameter allowed
value = date-value
; Value MUST match value type
value =/ date-time-value
; Value MUST match value type
; **** GENDER ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = "M" / "F" / iana-token / x-name
; Value are case insensitive
; **** ADR ****
param = text-param / pref-param / pid-param
value = adr-value
; **** LABEL ****
param = text-param / pref-param / pid-param
value = text-value
; **** TEL ****
param = pref-param / tel-param / pid-param
; Only tel parameters allowed
value = uri-value
tel-param = "TYPE" "=" tel-type *("," tel-type)
tel-type = "VOICE" / "FAX" / "CELL" / "PAGER"
/ "VIDEO" / "TEXT" / iana-token / x-name
; Values are case insensitive
; **** EMAIL ****
param = pref-param / pid-param
value = text-value
; **** TZ ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = utc-offset-value
; **** GEO ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = float-value ";" float-value
; **** TITLE ****
param = text-param / pid-param
; Only text parameters allowed
value = text-value
; **** ROLE ****
param = text-param / pid-param
; Only text parameters allowed
value = text-value
; **** LOGO ****
param = pid-param / img-inline-param / img-refer-param
value = img-inline-value / img-refer-value
; Value and parameter MUST match
; **** ORG ****
param = text-param / pid-param
; Only text parameters allowed
value = org-value
org-value = *(text-value ";") text-value
; First is Organization Name, remainder are Organization Units.
; **** MEMBER ****
param = pid-param
value = uri
; Any valid URI scheme
; **** RELATED ****
param = ("TYPE" "=" related-type) / pid-param
; Value is case insensitive
value = uri
; Any valid URI scheme
related-type = "parent" / "child" / "sibling" / "manager"
/ "assistant" / "agent" / iana-token / x-name
; Values are case insensitive
; **** CATEGORIES ****
param = text-param / pid-param
; Only text parameters allowed
value = text-value-list
; **** NOTE ****
param = text-param / pid-param
; Only text parameters allowed
value = text-value
; **** PRODID ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = text-value
; **** REV ****
param = ["VALUE" "=" "date-time"]
; Only value parameters allowed. Values are case insensitive.
param =/ "VALUE" "=" "date"
; Only value parameters allowed. Values are case insensitive.
value = date-time-value
value =/ date-value
; **** SORT-STRING ****
param = text-param
; Only text parameters allowed
value = text-value
; **** SOUND ****
param = snd-inline-param / snd-refer-param / pid-param
value = snd-line-value
; Value MUST match value type
value =/ snd-refer-value
; Value MUST match value type
snd-inline-value = binary-value CRLF
; Value MUST be "b" encoded audio content
snd-inline-param = ("VALUE" "=" "binary")
/ ("ENCODING" "=" "b")
/ ("TYPE" "=" *SAFE-CHAR)
; Value MUST be an IANA registered audio type
snd-refer-value = uri
; URI MUST refer to audio content of given type
snd-refer-param = ("VALUE" "=" "uri")
/ ("TYPE" "=" *SAFE-CHAR)
; Value MUST be an IANA registered audio type
; **** UID ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = uri
; **** URL ****
param = pid-param
value = uri
; **** VERSION ****
;This type MUST be included in a vCard object.
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = text-value
; Value MUST be "4.0"
; **** CLASS ****
param = ""
; No parameters allowed
value = "PUBLIC" / "PRIVATE" / "CONFIDENTIAL"
/ iana-token / x-name
; Value are case insensitive
; **** KEY ****
param = key-txt-param / key-bin-param / pid-param
value = text-value
value =/ binary-value
key-txt-param = "TYPE" "=" keytype
key-bin-param = ("TYPE" "=" keytype)
/ ("ENCODING" "=" "b")
; Value MUST be a "b" encoded key or certificate
keytype = param-value
; Type MUST be a media type as defined in RFC 4288
; **** X- **** non-standard property
param = x-bin-param / x-txt-param / pid-param
value = x-bin-value / x-txt-value
; Value and parameter MUST match
x-bin-param = ("ENCODING" "=" "b") / text-param
x-txt-param = text-param
x-bin-value = binary-value
x-txt-value = text-value-list
;*******************************************
; vCard Commonly Used Parameter Definition
;*******************************************
text-param = ("VALUE" "=" "ptext")
/ ("LANGUAGE" "=" langval)
/ (x-name "=" param-value)
langval = <a language string as defined in [RFC4646]>
pref-param = "PREF" "=" pref-value
pref-value = 1*DIGIT
pid-param = "PID" "=" pid-value *("," pid-value)
pid-value = 1*DIGIT
img-inline-value = binary-value
;Value MUST be "b" encoded image content
img-inline-param
img-inline-param = ("VALUE" "=" "binary")
/ ("ENCODING" "=" "b")
/ ("TYPE" "=" param-value)
;TYPE value MUST be an image media type as defined in RFC 4288
img-refer-value = uri
;URI MUST refer to image content of given type
img-refer-param = ("VALUE" "=" "uri")
/ ("TYPE" "=" param-value)
;TYPE value MUST be an image media type as defined in RFC 4288
adr-value = 0*6(text-value ";") text-value
; PO Box, Extended Address, Street, Locality, Region, Postal
; Code, Country Name
;*******************************************
; vCard Type Value Definition
;*******************************************
text-value-list = 1*text-value *("," 1*text-value)
text-value = *(SAFE-CHAR / ":" / DQUOTE / ESCAPED-CHAR)
ESCAPED-CHAR = "\\" / "\;" / "\," / "\n" / "\N"
; \\ encodes \, \n or \N encodes newline
; \; encodes ;, \, encodes ,
binary-value = <A "b" encoded text value as defined in [RFC2047]>
date-value = <A single date value as defined in [RFC2425]>
time-value = <A single time value as defined in [RFC2425]>
date-time-value = <A single date-time value as defined in [RFC2425]>
float-value = <A single float value as defined in [RFC2425]>
phone-number-value = phone-prefix 1*(SP 1*DIGIT) [phone-ext]
phone-prefix = "+" 1*DIGIT / "(" 1*DIGIT ")"
phone-ext = "ext." 1*DIGIT
uri-value = <A uri value as defined in [RFC2425]>
language-tag-value = langval
utc-offset-value = ("+" / "-") time-hour ":" time-minute
time-hour = 2DIGIT ;00-23
time-minute = 2DIGIT ;00-59
| TOC |
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 FN:Simon Perreault N:Perreault;Simon;;ing. jr,M.Sc. BDAY:1983-02-03 GENDER:M WORK.ORG:Viagénie WORK.ADR:;;2600 boul. Laurier\, suite 625; Québec;QC;G1V 4W1;Canada WORK.TEL;TYPE=voice;PREF=1:tel:+1-418-656-9254;ext=102 WORK.TEL;TYPE=cell,voice,video,text:tel:+1-418-262-6501 WORK.TEL;TYPE=fax:tel:+1-418-656-9257 WORK.EMAIL:simon.perreault@viagenie.ca WORK.GEO:46.772673,-71.282945 WORK.KEY;VALUE=uri:http://www.viagenie.ca/simon.perreault/simon.asc CLASS:PUBLIC END:VCARD
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 FN:Pete Resnick N:Resnick;Pete;; GENDER:M WORK.ORG:QUALCOMM Incorporated WORK.ADR:;;5775 Morehouse Drive;San Diego;CA;92121-1714;US WORK.TEL;TYPE=voice:tel:+1-858-651-4478 WORK.EMAIL:presnick@qualcomm.com WORK.URL:http://www.qualcomm.com/~presnick/ END:VCARD
| TOC |
| TOC |
| TOC |
This section defines the process for registering new or modified vCard elements (i.e. properties, parameters, value data types, and values) with IANA.
| TOC |
The IETF will create a mailing list, vcard@ietf.org, which can be used for public discussion of vCard element proposals prior to registration. Use of the mailing list is strongly encouraged. The IESG will appoint a designated expert who will monitor the vcard@ietf.org mailing list and review registrations.
Registration of new vCard elements MUST be reviewed by the designated expert and published in an RFC. A Standard Tracks RFC is REQUIRED for the regisration of new value data types that modify existing properties. A Standard Tracks RFC is also REQUIRED for registration of vCard elements that modify vCard elements previously documented in a Standard Tracks RFC.
The registration procedure begins when a completed registration template, defined in the sections below, is sent to vcard@ietf.org and iana@iana.org. The designated expert is expected to tell IANA and the submitter of the registration within two weeks whether the registration is approved, approved with minor changes, or rejected with cause. When a registration is rejected with cause, it can be re-submitted if the concerns listed in the cause are addressed. Decisions made by the designated expert can be appealed to the IESG Applications Area Director, then to the IESG. They follow the normal appeals procedure for IESG decisions.
| TOC |
The vendor namespace is used for vCard elements associated with commercially available products. "Vendor" or "producer" are construed as equivalent and very broadly in this context.
A registration may be placed in the vendor namespace by anyone who needs to interchange files associated with the particular product. However, the registration formally belongs to the vendor or organization handling the vCard elements in the namespace being registered. Changes to the specification will be made at their request, as discussed in subsequent sections.
vCard elements belonging to the vendor namespace will be distinguished by the "VND-" prefix. That may be followed, at the discretion of the registrant, by either a vCard element name from a well-known producer (e.g., "VND-MUDPIE") or by an IANA-approved designation of the producer's name that is followed by a vCard element designation (e.g., "VND-BIGCOMPANY-MUDPIE").
While public exposure and review of vCard elements to be registered in the vendor namespace is not required, using the vcard@ietf.org mailing list for review is strongly encouraged to improve the quality of those specifications. Registrations in the vendor namespace may be submitted directly to the IANA.
| TOC |
A group is defined by completing the following template.
- Group name:
- The name of the group.
- Purpose:
- The purpose of the group. Give a short but clear description.
- Description:
- Any special notes about the group, how it is to be used, etc.
- Allowed Properties:
- List of properties that may be placed inside the group.
- Example(s):
- One or more examples of instances of the value type needs to be specified.
| TOC |
A property is defined by completing the following template.
- Property name:
- The name of the property.
- Purpose:
- The purpose of the property. Give a short but clear description.
- Value type:
- Any of the valid value types for the property value needs to be specified. The default value type also needs to be specified.
- Property parameters:
- Any of the valid property parameters for the property MUST be specified.
- Groups:
- List of already-existing groups whose allowed properties list must be updated by adding this new property.
- Description:
- Any special notes about the property, how it is to be used, etc.
- Format definition:
- The ABNF for the property definition needs to be specified.
- Example(s):
- One or more examples of instances of the property needs to be specified.
| TOC |
A parameter is defined by completing the following template.
- Parameter name:
- The name of the parameter.
- Purpose:
- The purpose of the parameter. Give a short but clear description.
- Description:
- Any special notes about the parameter, how it is to be used, etc.
- Format definition:
- The ABNF for the parameter definition needs to be specified.
- Example(s):
- One or more examples of instances of the parameter needs to be specified.
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A value data type is defined by completing the following template.
- Value name:
- The name of the value type.
- Purpose:
- The purpose of the value type. Give a short but clear description.
- Description:
- Any special notes about the value type, how it is to be used, etc.
- Format definition:
- The ABNF for the value type definition needs to be specified.
- Example(s):
- One or more examples of instances of the value type needs to be specified.
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A value is defined by completing the following template.
- Value:
- The value literal.
- Purpose:
- The purpose of the value. Give a short but clear description.
- Conformance:
- The vCard properties and/or parameters that can take this value needs to be specified.
- Example(s):
- One or more examples of instances of the value needs to be specified.
The following is a fictitious example of a registration of a vCard value:
- Value:
- TOP-SECRET
- Purpose:
- This value is used to specify the access classification of top-secret vCards.
- Conformance:
- This value can be used with the "CLASS" property.
- Example(s):
- The following is an example of this value used with the "CLASS" property:
CLASS:TOP-SECRET
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The IANA is requested to create and maintain the following registries for vCard elements with pointers to appropriate reference documents.
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The following table is to be used to initialize the groups registry.
| Goup | Description | Status | Allowed Properties | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WORK | Properties related to an individual's work place. | Current | FN, NICKNAME, PHOTO, ADR, LABEL, TEL, EMAIL, IMPP, LANG, TZ, GEO, TITLE, ROLE, LOGO, ORG, RELATED, CATEGORIES, NOTE, SOUND, URL, KEY | RFCXXXX |
| HOME | Properties related to an individual's personal life. | Current | FN, NICKNAME, PHOTO, ADR, LABEL, TEL, EMAIL, IMPP, LANG, TZ, GEO, TITLE, ROLE, LOGO, ORG, RELATED, CATEGORIES, NOTE, SOUND, URL, KEY | RFCXXXX |
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The following table is to be used to initialize the properties registry.
| Property | Status | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| SOURCE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.3 (SOURCE) |
| NAME | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.4 (NAME) |
| KIND | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.5 (KIND) |
| FN | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.1 (FN) |
| N | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.2 (N) |
| NICKNAME | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.3 (NICKNAME) |
| PHOTO | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.4 (PHOTO) |
| BDAY | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.5 (BDAY) |
| DDAY | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.6 (DDAY) |
| BIRTH | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.7 (BIRTH) |
| DEATH | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.8 (DEATH) |
| GENDER | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.9 (GENDER) |
| ADR | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.3.1 (ADR) |
| LABEL | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.3.2 (LABEL) |
| TEL | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.1 (TEL) |
| Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.2 (EMAIL) | |
| IMPP | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.3 (IMPP) |
| LANG | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.4 (LANG) |
| TZ | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.5.1 (TZ) |
| GEO | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.5.2 (GEO) |
| TITLE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.1 (TITLE) |
| ROLE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.2 (ROLE) |
| LOGO | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.3 (LOGO) |
| ORG | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.4 (ORG) |
| MEMBER | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.5 (MEMBER) |
| RELATED | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.6 (RELATED) |
| CATEGORIES | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.1 (CATEGORIES) |
| NOTE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.2 (NOTE) |
| PRODID | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.3 (PRODID) |
| REV | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.4 (REV) |
| SORT-STRING | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.5 (SORT-STRING) |
| SOUND | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.6 (SOUND) |
| UID | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.7 (UID) |
| CLIENTPIDMAP | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.8 (CLIENTPIDMAP) |
| URL | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.9 (URL) |
| VERSION | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.7.10 (VERSION) |
| CLASS | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.8.1 (CLASS) |
| KEY | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.8.2 (KEY) |
| FBURL | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.9.1 (FBURL) |
| CALADRURI | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.9.2 (CALADRURI) |
| CALURI | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.9.3 (CALURI) |
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The following table is to be used to initialize the parameters registry.
| Parameter | Status | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| LANGUAGE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 6.1 (LANGUAGE) |
| ENCODING | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 6.2 (ENCODING) |
| VALUE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 6.3 (VALUE) |
| PID | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 6.5 (PID) |
| TYPE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 6.6 (TYPE) |
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The following table is to be used to initialize the parameters registry.
| Value Data Type | Status | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| BINARY | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.7 (BINARY) |
| BOOLEAN | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.4 (BOOLEAN) |
| DATE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.3 (DATE, TIME, and DATE-TIME) |
| TIME | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.3 (DATE, TIME, and DATE-TIME) |
| DATE-TIME | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.3 (DATE, TIME, and DATE-TIME) |
| FLOAT | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.6 (FLOAT) |
| INTEGER | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.5 (INTEGER) |
| TEXT | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.1 (TEXT) |
| URI | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.2 (URI) |
| LANGUAGE-TAG | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 5.9 (LANGUAGE-TAG) |
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Separate tables will be used for property and parameter values.
The following table is to be used to initialize the property values registry.
| Property | Value | Status | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEGIN | VCARD | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.1 (BEGIN) |
| END | VCARD | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.2 (END) |
| KIND | individual | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.5 (KIND) |
| KIND | group | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.5 (KIND) |
| KIND | org | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.5 (KIND) |
| KIND | location | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.1.5 (KIND) |
| GENDER | M | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.9 (GENDER) |
| GENDER | F | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.2.9 (GENDER) |
| CLASS | PUBLIC | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.8.1 (CLASS) |
| CLASS | PRIVATE | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.8.1 (CLASS) |
| CLASS | CONFIDENTIAL | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.8.1 (CLASS) |
The following table is to be used to initialize the parameter values registry.
| Property | Parameter | Value | Status | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEL | TYPE | text | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.1 (TEL) |
| TEL | TYPE | voice | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.1 (TEL) |
| TEL | TYPE | fax | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.1 (TEL) |
| TEL | TYPE | cell | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.1 (TEL) |
| TEL | TYPE | video | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.1 (TEL) |
| TEL | TYPE | pager | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.4.1 (TEL) |
| RELATED | TYPE | parent | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.6 (RELATED) |
| RELATED | TYPE | child | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.6 (RELATED) |
| RELATED | TYPE | sibling | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.6 (RELATED) |
| RELATED | TYPE | manager | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.6 (RELATED) |
| RELATED | TYPE | assistant | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.6 (RELATED) |
| RELATED | TYPE | agent | Current | RFCXXXX, Section 7.6.6 (RELATED) |
| TOC |
The authors would like to thank Frank Dawson and Tim Howes, the original authors of [RFC2425] (Howes, T., Smith, M., and F. Dawson, “A MIME Content-Type for Directory Information,” September 1998.) and [RFC2426] (Dawson, F. and T. Howes, “vCard MIME Directory Profile,” September 1998.), as well as the following individuals who have participated in the drafting, review and discussion of this memo:
Marc Blanchet, Stephane Bortzmeyer, Dan Brickley, Chris Bryant, Dany Cauchie, Darryl Champagne, Cyrus Daboo, Bernard Desruisseaux, Lisa Dusseault, Javier Godoy, Helge Hess, Alexander Mayrhofer, Chris Newman, Mark Paterson, Julian Reschke, Peter K. Sheerin, Anil Srivastava, and Kurt Zeilenga.
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| [CCITT.E163.1988] | International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee, “Numbering Plan for the International Telephone Service,” CCITT Recommendation E.163, 1988. |
| [CCITT.X121.1988] | International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee, “International Numbering Plan for the Public Data Networks,” CCITT Recommendation X.121, 1988. |
| [CCITT.X520.1988] | International International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee, “Information Technology - Open Systems Interconnection - The Directory: Selected Attribute Types,” CCITT Recommendation X.520, November 1988. |
| [CCITT.X521.1988] | International International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee, “Information Technology - Open Systems Interconnection - The Directory: Selected Object Classes,” CCITT Recommendation X.521, November 1988. |
| [ISO.8601.1988] | International Organization for Standardization, “Data elements and interchange formats - Information interchange - Representation of dates and times,” ISO Standard 8601, June 1988. |
| [RFC2046] | Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, “Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types,” RFC 2046, November 1996 (TXT). |
| [RFC2047] | Moore, K., “MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text,” RFC 2047, November 1996 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC2119] | Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC2425] | Howes, T., Smith, M., and F. Dawson, “A MIME Content-Type for Directory Information,” RFC 2425, September 1998 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC2426] | Dawson, F. and T. Howes, “vCard MIME Directory Profile,” RFC 2426, September 1998 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC2739] | Small, T., Hennessy, D., and F. Dawson, “Calendar Attributes for vCard and LDAP,” RFC 2739, January 2000 (TXT). |
| [RFC2822] | Resnick, P., “Internet Message Format,” RFC 2822, April 2001 (TXT). |
| [RFC2978] | Freed, N. and J. Postel, “IANA Charset Registration Procedures,” BCP 19, RFC 2978, October 2000 (TXT). |
| [RFC3629] | Yergeau, F., “UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646,” STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003 (TXT). |
| [RFC3966] | Schulzrinne, H., “The tel URI for Telephone Numbers,” RFC 3966, December 2004 (TXT). |
| [RFC3986] | Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, “Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax,” STD 66, RFC 3986, January 2005 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC4122] | Leach, P., Mealling, M., and R. Salz, “A Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace,” RFC 4122, July 2005 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC4288] | Freed, N. and J. Klensin, “Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures,” BCP 13, RFC 4288, December 2005 (TXT). |
| [RFC4646] | Phillips, A. and M. Davis, “Tags for Identifying Languages,” RFC 4646, September 2006 (TXT). |
| [RFC4770] | Jennings, C. and J. Reschke, Ed., “vCard Extensions for Instant Messaging (IM),” RFC 4770, January 2007 (TXT, HTML, XML). |
| [RFC5234] | Crocker, D. and P. Overell, “Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF,” STD 68, RFC 5234, January 2008 (TXT). |
| [oldreference_UNICODE] | The International Organization for Standardization, “The Unicode Standard - Version 2.0", The Unicode Consortium,” July 1996. |
| [oldreference_VCARD] | Internet Mail Consortium, “vCard - The Electronic Business Card Version 2.1,” September September. |
| TOC |
| [ISO9070] | The International Organization for Standardization, “ISO 9070, Information Processing - SGML support facilities - Registration Procedures for Public Text Owner Identifiers,” April 1991. |
| [RFC3406] | Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom, “Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms,” BCP 66, RFC 3406, October 2002 (TXT). |
| [WGS84] | National Imagery and Mapping Agency, “Department of Defense World Geodetic System 1984, Third Edition,” NIMA TR8350.2, January 2000. |
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This appendix contains a list of changes that have been made in the vCard specification from RFCs 2425 and 2426.
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| Simon Perreault | |
| Viagénie | |
| 2600 boul. Laurier, suite 625 | |
| Québec, QC G1V 4W1 | |
| Canada | |
| Phone: | +1 418 656 9254 |
| EMail: | simon.perreault@viagenie.ca |
| URI: | http://www.viagenie.ca |
| Peter W. Resnick | |
| QUALCOMM Incorporated | |
| 5775 Morehouse Drive | |
| San Diego, CA 92121-1714 | |
| US | |
| Phone: | +1 858 651 4478 |
| EMail: | presnick@qualcomm.com |
| URI: | http://www.qualcomm.com/~presnick/ |