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/*!

\page contactssync.html

\title Qt Contacts Synchronous API

\tableofcontents

    The Qt Contacts Synchronous API provides the simplest way to access or
    modify the contact information managed by a particular backend. It has the
    disadvantage that calls block until completion and is therefore most
    suitable only for applications which interact with local, high-speed
    datastores.

Most operations that may be performed using the synchronous API may also be
performed using the Qt Contacts Asynchronous API.  It is recommended for most
applications that the asynchronous API be used where possible.

The Qt Contacts Synchronous API is available through the QContactManager
class. It has the following main use cases:
\list
  \li Reporting Errors
  \li Manipulating Contacts
  \li Manipulating Relationships
\endlist


\section1 Reporting Errors

When a synchronous operation fails, clients need to be able to retrieve error information associated
with that synchronous operation.  The QContactManager::error() function provides this information to clients.

For some synchronous operations (for example, batch save or remove operations) it is possible that
multiple errors may occur during the operation.  In those cases, the synchronous function takes
a pointer to a map of input index to error, which is filled by the function as required.
The QContactManager::error() function then reports the overall operation error.

Error reporting is handled slightly differently in the asynchronous API, in that each instance of
an asynchronous request is able to report any overall operation error as well as the finer-grained
map of errors, for the operation which it requested.


\section1 Manipulating Contacts

The most common type of operation that clients perform involves retrieval or modification of contacts.
The QContactManager class offers synchronous API to retrieve, create, update and delete contacts.  The create
and update operations are provided through the same interface.  Both singular and batch operations are offered
by the API.

A contact is identified by its QContactId.  This id consists of two parts: a URI which identifies the contact manager
which stores the contact, and the local id of the contact in that manager.  Some operations which take a pointer
to a contact as an argument may modify the contact during the operation; updating the contact id is a common example.

The QContactManager class provides API for accessing the IDs of contacts which are stored in the manager:
\list
  \li contactIds(const QList<QContactSortOrder>& sortOrders = QList<QContactSortOrder>()) const
  \li contactIds(const QContactFilter& filter, const QList<QContactSortOrder>& sortOrders = QList<QContactSortOrder>()) const
\endlist

The contact id retrieval functionality is also provided via asynchronous API through the QContactIdFetchRequest class.

The synchronous, singular contact manipulation functions offered by the QContactManager class are:
\list
  \li contact(const QContactId& contactId, const QContactFetchHint& fetchHint = QContactFetchHint()) const
  \li saveContact(QContact* contact)
  \li removeContact(const QContactId& contactId)
\endlist

The (optional) fetch argument to the contact accessor function allows clients to tell the plugin
which types of information they wish to retrieve.  This argument is a hint only, and may be ignored safely by the plugin,
or used by the plugin to optimize the performance of the retrieve operation.

The save operation entails a validation step, where the contact's details are checked against the supported schema.
If the contact is valid, it is saved.  Note that if the contact already exists in the database (determined by
the id of the contact) it is replaced with the contact contained in the argument.  This means that clients should
not save any contact which was retrieved with a non-empty fetchHint defined, or data loss may occur.

Any error which occurs during such singular contact manipulation functions may be accessed by calling QContactManager::error()
directly after the original synchronous call.

The synchronous, batch contact manipulation functions offered by the QContactManager class are:
\list
  \li contacts(const QList<QContactSortOrder>& sortOrders = QList<QContactSortOrder>(), const QContactFetchHint& fetchHint = QContactFetchHint()) const
  \li contacts(const QContactFilter& filter, const QList<QContactSortOrder>& sortOrders = QList<QContactSortOrder>(), const QContactFetchHint& fetchHint = QContactFetchHint()) const
  \li saveContacts(QList<QContact>* contacts, QMap<int, QContactManager::Error>* errorMap)
  \li removeContacts(QList<QContactId>* contactIds, QMap<int, QContactManager::Error>* errorMap)
\endlist

The batch save and remove functions both take an (optional) pointer to a map of errors.  If the pointer is non-null,
this map is filled out with any errors which occur.  The overall operation error of any batch manipulation operation
may be accessed by calling QContactManager::error() directly after the original synchronous call.

The contact manipulation functionality is also provided via asynchronous API through the QContactFetchRequest,
QContactSaveRequest, and QContactRemoveRequest classes.

The \e self contact is a special concept, which has dedicated API.  A client may instruct any backend which supports the
concept of a self contact that a particular, previously saved contact is the self contact.  Any backend which implements
this functionality should report that it supports the QContactManager::SelfContact feature.

The API which provides the self-contact functionality consists of:
\list
  \li setSelfContactId(const QContactId& contactId)
  \li selfContactId() const
\endlist

In order to unset the self contact, a client may either delete the contact which is currently set as the self contact,
or set the self contact id to be null id (constructed via QContactId()).
The self-contact manipulation functionality is only available via the synchronous API.


\section2 Adding Contacts

The client creates a new contact, adds a name and a phone number, and
saves it to the default store of the default manager.

We assume the existence of a specialized leaf-class that allows simple
access to details of the definition identified by the "PhoneNumber"
identifier, and another that allows simple access to details of the
definition identified by the "Name" identifier.  These specialized leaf
classes may be written by anyone, and simply wrap the functionality
provided by QContactDetail in order to allow simpler access to fields
supported by a particular definition.

    \snippet qtcontactsdocsample/qtcontactsdocsample.cpp Creating a new contact

\section2 Filtering by Detail Definition and Value

The client utilizes a default manager and asks for any contacts with a
particular phone number.  The example assumes that the default manager
supports the provided QContactPhoneNumber detail leaf class (which
implements the default definition for phone number details).

    \snippet qtcontactsdocsample/qtcontactsdocsample.cpp Filtering by definition and value


\section2 Modifying Contact Details

The client retrieves a contact, modifies one of its details, adds a new
detail, and then saves the contact back to the manager.

    \snippet qtcontactsdocsample/qtcontactsdocsample.cpp Modifying an existing contact

\section1 Manipulating Relationships

Contacts may be related in various ways.  The contacts API allows clients to define relationships between contacts
if the plugin providing the functionality supports such relationships.
Some plugins support arbitrary relationship types.  Clients can define custom relationships between contacts saved
in such plugins.

The API which provides the relationship manipulation functionality consists of:
\list
  \li relationships(const QContactId& participantId, QContactRelationshipFilter::Role role = QContactRelationshipFilter::Either) const;
  \li relationships(const QString& relationshipType = QString(), const QContactId& participantId = QContactId(), QContactRelationshipFilter::Role role = QContactRelationshipFilter::Either) const;
  \li saveRelationship(QContactRelationship* relationship);
  \li saveRelationships(QList<QContactRelationship>* relationships);
  \li removeRelationship(const QContactRelationship& relationship);
  \li removeRelationships(const QList<QContactRelationship>& relationships);
\endlist

The relationship manipulation functionality is also provided via asynchronous API through the QContactRelationshipFetchRequest,
QContactRelationshipSaveRequest, and QContactRelationshipRemoveRequest classes.

*/

