Create and download vCard VCF file from Database in ASPNet

In this article I will explain with an example, how to create and download vCard (.VCF) file from Database in ASP.Net using C# and VB.Net.

Database

This article makes use of table named Contacts whose schema is defined as follows.

I have inserted a record in the table.

Note:You can download the database table SQL by clicking the download link below.

Download SQL file

HTML Markup

The following HTML Markup consists of an Image and some Label controls and a Button.

The Button has been assigned an OnClick event handler.

<table>

<tr>

<asp:Image ID="imgPhoto" runat="server" />

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

</tr>

<tr>

<td style="width: 100px">Company Name:</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td style="width: 100px">Title (Position):</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Mobile Number:</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Home Number:</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Work Number:</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Email Address:</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Website:</td>

</tr>

<tr>

</tr>

</table>

Namespaces

You need to import the following namespaces.

using System.IO;

using System.Text;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

VB.Net

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Text

Imports System.Configuration

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Populating the Table with the records fetched from the Database

Inside the Page Load event handler, the records from the Contacts Table are fetched using SqlDataReader.

Then, using WHILE Loop records are set to the Image Url and Label controls.

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

if (!this.IsPostBack)

{

string constring = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["constr"].ConnectionString;

using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(constring))

{

using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM Contacts", con))

{

con.Open();

using (SqlDataReader sdr = cmd.ExecuteReader())

{

if (sdr.Read())

{

imgPhoto.ImageUrl = sdr["ImageUrl"].ToString();

lblName.Text = sdr["Name"].ToString();

lblOrganization.Text = sdr["CompanyName"].ToString();

lblTitle.Text = sdr["Title"].ToString();

lblMobileNumber.Text = sdr["MobileNumber"].ToString();

lblHomeNumber.Text = sdr["HomeNumber"].ToString();

lblWorkNumber.Text = sdr["WorkNumber"].ToString();

lblEmailAddress.Text = sdr["EmailAddress"].ToString();

lblWebsite.Text = sdr["Website"].ToString();

}

con.Close();

}

VB.Net

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

If NotMe.IsPostBack Then

Dim constring As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("constr").ConnectionString

Using con As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(constring)

Using cmd As SqlCommand = New SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM Contacts", con)

con.Open()

Using sdr As SqlDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader()

If sdr.Read() Then

imgPhoto.ImageUrl = sdr("ImageUrl").ToString()

lblName.Text = sdr("Name").ToString()

lblOrganization.Text = sdr("CompanyName").ToString()

lblTitle.Text = sdr("Title").ToString()

lblMobileNumber.Text = sdr("MobileNumber").ToString()

lblHomeNumber.Text = sdr("HomeNumber").ToString()

lblWorkNumber.Text = sdr("WorkNumber").ToString()

lblEmailAddress.Text = sdr("EmailAddress").ToString()

lblWebsite.Text = sdr("Website").ToString()

End If

End Using

con.Close()

End Using

End If

End Sub

Creating and Downloading vCard (.VCF) file in ASP.Net

When the Create VCF Button is clicked, the following event handler is executed.

Inside this event handler, first a StringBuilder class object is created. Then the information for creating the vCard (.VCF) is read from the Label controls and appended to the StringBuilder class object using Append function.

For the contact Photo, Image file is read from the Folder path and converted to BYTE Array and then converted to BASE64 string and finally, appended to the StringBuilder object.

Once the vCard details such as Name, Organization, Phone Numbers, Email Addresses, Websites and Photo of the contact is filled, the file is downloaded using the Response class.

Note: The ContentType of Response class is set as text/vcard which informs the Browser that the file type is a vCard.

protected void txtCreate_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

sb.Append("BEGIN:VCARD\r\nVERSION:2.1");

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("N:");

sb.Append(lblName.Text.Split(' ')[0]);

sb.Append(";");

sb.Append(lblName.Text.Split(' ')[1]);

sb.Append(";");

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("FN:");

sb.Append(lblName.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("TEL;CELL:");

sb.Append(lblMobileNumber.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("TEL;HOME:");

sb.Append(lblHomeNumber.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("TEL;WORK:");

sb.Append(lblWorkNumber.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("EMAIL;WORK:");

sb.Append(lblEmailAddress.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("ORG:");

sb.Append(lblOrganization.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("TITLE:");

sb.Append(lblTitle.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("URL:");

sb.Append(lblWebsite.Text);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

byte[] bytes = File.ReadAllBytes(Server.MapPath("~/Images/Mudassar.png"));

string base64 = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);

sb.Append("PHOTO;ENCODING=BASE64;PNG:");

sb.Append(base64);

sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);

sb.Append("END:VCARD");

Response.Clear();

Response.Buffer = true;

Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=Mudassar.vcf");

Response.Charset = "";

Response.ContentType = "text/vcard";

Response.Output.Write(sb.ToString());

Response.Flush();

Response.End();

}

VB.Net

Protected Sub txtCreate_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

Dim sb As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()

sb.Append("BEGIN:VCARD" & vbCrLf & "VERSION:2.1")