LG CU500 Gmail Contact Importer

[thelegend_16]

I wrote a small Java ME application for the LG CU500 that can import contacts from a gmail.csv file that is transferred to the phone. By default it looks on the root of the miniSD card. You can change this (although it doesn't save this configuration after you close the application).

http://contactimporter.sourceforge.net/

You will also need to modify your java permissions as noted in this thread as this is not a signed application.

Please feel free to comment on this below.

[player911]

I'll be the first to try it out. So you can essentially have all your contacts in one CSV file, and import them all at once?

Also when I download the file... all I get is the .jad file. I guess this is good if you were to download it from your phone. Honestly the jad file isn't even needed in that case. You should only have linked the JAR file since it can be downloaded both directly on either the PC or LG Phone. I got the JAR file by reading the location in the JAD file. No biggie, just FYI.

[player911]

Works like a champ. Saved my life. Instead of gmail.csv being the default... you should make it "contacts.csv".

So that people can just have a backup of "Contacts.csv" on their PC, and copy it over. It doesn't matter, just a suggestion. This program is great, but it shouldn't be limited to gmail (basically what I'm saying).

Using "Contacts.csv" is more generic.

THAT OR when you click import it would automatically display the URL information which could be changed before fully importing it.

So the Menu Structure would be:

Import
--Verify Location
--Ok
--Cancel
Test
Log

[thelegend_16]

Thanks for the feedback. My goal is to make it save your settings so it only have to change it once. By default I point it at file:///TFlash/gmail.csv. Also I would like to add a "find" feature to it, so it could be more user friendly then someone having to know the path to the file.

Not sure if you noticed but there are some small hiccups (due to the way the phone wants to save things). For example: my wife has a home phone, mobile phone, work phone, other phone (second work line). Even though the app puts them into the phone this way, the phone (on saving them) changes the "other" phone to fax. 2nd issue is that since I need to clear a contacts email and phone number information before setting it (or the phone really starts moving numbers around) sometimes you have to double check your speed dials (they should still be for the same contact but not always the correct number.

I'll set up a link to the jar file as well, just in case anyone wants to download it that way.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[CrystalSet]

Have you considered importing calendar entries? I have a script that creates individual vcs files from entries in a comma separated file. I can batch transfer the vcs files (even with Bluetooth) but I still have to go through the view/save/save for each file on the phone.

I’d be willing to look at your source code but the it would be my first with JAVA. The last time I was paid as a programmer, assembly language and Fortran were the languages of choice.

[thelegend_16]

There is a application for doing Calendar sync with Google Calendar. http://www.gcalsync.com

Are you trying to sync with GCal or something else?

[player911]

I think the goal is to IMPORT settings. So we're saving information TO the phone.

GCal sync your phone info to Google Calendar. I'm not sure it will save changes TO the phone.

[thelegend_16]

We can definitely look to expand the functionality of this program if GCalSync isn't working properly on the LG CU500. I would like to add the saving of the config information and the "find my file" setting as well before working on this.

[CrystalSet]

Which phone folder has the contact or calendar data? I looked around a little with QPST for file dates that corresponded to the dates of my changes but that didn’t work.

I have written some scripts to convert comma separated file entries (from an old version of Lotus Organizer the my wife won’t give up) to multiple vcs files. I might be able to go directly to the phone’s internal calendar file structure. That would also avoid the orphan file problem when you import vcs or vcf files.

[thelegend_16]

Not sure. This program uses the Java ME APIs to work with the Address book. GCalSync uses the Java ME APIs to work with the Calendar.

[a_ringer]

I really like this program. Just have a few suggestions. Anyway to add the "Notes" field in the google.csv file into the Memo field in the cu500 address book? Also it doesn't seem to be picking up the Fax and Pager fields from the file for me.

If you need any help coding/testing I would be glad to help.

[iamtb77]

Gmail has a mobile service now, just do a search for gmail mobile. all your contacts are available when you run the program

[thelegend_16]

I have posted a version that imports the notes into the "memo" field of the phone. Unfortunately, I have not had the time to test the length of this field, so if you run into an error please let me know. I will try to research and put an update out there (so that it simply trims the note field).

Fax and Pagers. You would think this would be simple, but the LG CU500's Java PIM implementation is actually annoying. Number types have a precedence, so no matter what is input the same fields get updated. For example: the code tells the phone to update (MOBILE, FAX). For an unknown reason the phone will change this when it saves to (MOBILE, MOBILE). The precedence seems to be:
MOBILE
MOBILE2
HOME
WORK
FAX

The phone only supports 5 values. So you can see they are all taken up. You have to pass in a blank number for a "non-set" number to make sure it doesn't move a value up to a different field. So if your contacts have both a FAX and a PAGER, there is no way to import both. For now I have set the PAGER as more important, but this does mean it will be in the FAX field.

This is very frustrating when working with this phone.

[pfraterdeus]

Still trying to figure out how to get my contacts from OS X address book to this phone.
I exported the address book, which creates a single huge vcf file, and the phone only shows the first entry.
I wrote a little python script which parses the big file into single entry vcf files in a new directory. When I drag these across to the phone, each single one puts up a challenge : "do you want to add this to Contacts"
Yes, of course.
But then the entry is jumbled because the parser is apparently extremely fussy about spaces etc.

[thelegend_16]

Still trying to figure out how to get my contacts from OS X address book to this phone.
I exported the address book, which creates a single huge vcf file, and the phone only shows the first entry.
I wrote a little python script which parses the big file into single entry vcf files in a new directory. When I drag these across to the phone, each single one puts up a challenge : "do you want to add this to Contacts"
Yes, of course.
But then the entry is jumbled because the parser is apparently extremely fussy about spaces etc.

This contact importer that I wrote only handles the gmail import file, so it won't be too helpful with the vcf files. I only had (I recently got a blackberry from my company, so no longer use the cu500) a cu500 and I had to do some massaging to try and get the basic import working - so I am not sure if it will work on the cu515. If you have your contacts in gmail it might work, give it a try and let me know.

To be honest I am a little upset, I don't use my cu500 anymore and then google finally releases a Contacts API - which is what I wanted when I wrote the importer. Maybe I should update to use the contacts API and to work with the BlackBerry...