vCard Format Extensions for JSContactFastmailPO Box 234Collins St. WestMelbourneVIC8007Australiarsto@fastmailteam.comIIT-CNRVia Moruzzi, 1Pisa56124Italymario.loffredo@iit.cnr.it
art
calextaddressbookcontactscardsvCardJSContact
This document defines a set of new properties for vCard and extends the use of existing ones. Their primary purpose is to align the same set of features between the JSContact and vCard formats, but the new definitions also aim to be useful within just the vCard format. This document updates RFC 6350 ("vCard Format Specification").
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by
the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further
information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of
RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any
errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
.
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Table of Contents
. Introduction
. Notational Conventions
. ABNF Notations
. Updated Properties
. ADR
. N
. New Properties
. CREATED
. GRAMGENDER
. LANGUAGE
. PRONOUNS
. SOCIALPROFILE
. New Parameters
. AUTHOR
. AUTHOR-NAME
. CREATED
. DERIVED
. LABEL
. PHONETIC
. PROP-ID
. SCRIPT
. SERVICE-TYPE
. USERNAME
. New Values
. Billing Address Type Value
. Delivery Address Type Value
. Security Considerations
. IANA Considerations
. Changes to the vCard Properties Registry
. New vCard Property Definitions
. Updated vCard Properties
. Changes to the vCard Parameters Registry
. Changes to the vCard Property Values Registry
. Changes to the vCard Parameter Values Registry
. References
. Normative References
. Informative References
Acknowledgements
Authors' Addresses
Introduction
The JSContact format aims to be an alternative to the
vCard format for representation of contact and address book
data. As such, it introduces new semantics that are not covered in the current
definition of vCard and its various extensions. Converting contact data between
the two formats is defined in with the goal of
not losing any semantics during conversion. To achieve this, this document
defines a new set of properties for vCard and extends existing definitions.
Notational Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT",
"REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT",
"RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED",
"MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be
interpreted as described in BCP 14 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as
shown here.
ABNF NotationsThe ABNF definitions in this document use the notations of . ABNF rules not defined in this document are defined in either (such as the ABNF for CRLF, WSP, DQUOTE, VCHAR, ALPHA, and DIGIT) or .
Updated PropertiesADRThis specification modifies the definition of the ADR property. It extends its structured value with additional address components to better support the variety of international addresses. It separates the address parts, which currently are typically combined in street address component values, into distinct components.Implementations SHOULD write a combined value of these components in the street address component for backwards compatibility, but they SHOULD ignore the street component during reads if the ADR property value contains any of the new components.The following change is made to the first paragraph under "Special note", as originally specified in . The remaining paragraphs of that section in the original specification still apply.
Special note: 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;
extended address (e.g., apartment or suite number);
street address;
locality (e.g., city);
region (e.g., state or province);
postal code;
country name (full name in the language specified in
);
room, suite number, or identifier;
apartment number, extension designation, or box number;
building floor or level;
street number;
street name;
building, tower, or condominium;
block name or number;
subdistrict;
district;
landmark or another publicly known prominent feature that can substitute the street name and number (e.g., "White House" and "Taj Mahal"); and
the cardinal direction or quadrant (e.g., "north").
The following change is made to the definition of "ADR-value" under "ABNF", as originally specified in .ABNF
ADR-value = ; defined in RFC 6350, Section 6.3.1.:
ADR-component-pobox ";"
ADR-component-ext ";"
ADR-component-street ";"
ADR-component-locality ";"
ADR-component-region ";"
ADR-component-code ";"
ADR-component-country ";"
; defined in this document:
ADR-component-room ";"
ADR-component-apartment ";"
ADR-component-floor ";"
ADR-component-streetnumber ";"
ADR-component-streetname ";"
ADR-component-building ";"
ADR-component-block ";"
ADR-component-subdistrict ";"
ADR-component-district ";"
ADR-component-landmark ";"
ADR-component-direction
ADR-component-pobox = list-component
ADR-component-ext = list-component
ADR-component-street = list-component
ADR-component-locality = list-component
ADR-component-region = list-component
ADR-component-code = list-component
ADR-component-country = list-component
ADR-component-room = list-component
ADR-component-apartment = list-component
ADR-component-floor = list-component
ADR-component-streetnumber = list-component
ADR-component-streetname = list-component
ADR-component-building = list-component
ADR-component-block = list-component
ADR-component-subdistrict = list-component
ADR-component-district = list-component
ADR-component-landmark = list-component
ADR-component-direction = list-component
The following change is made under "Example", as originally specified in .Example: In this example, the post office box and the extended address components are absent. The street number and name are both added as separate components and are combined in the street component for backwards compatibility.
ADR;GEO="geo:12.3457,78.910":
;;123 Main Street;Any Town;CA;91921-1234;U.S.A
;;;;123;Main Street;;;;;;
NThis specification modifies the definition of the N property. It extends its structured value with additional name components to better support international names and generation markers. In doing so, this also facilitates formatting N property values using the Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) Person Name formatting standard.One new component is for secondary surnames, because in some cultures, such secondary surname kinds are used to indicate the paternal and maternal family names or generational names indicating father or grandfather. Another new component indicates a generation ("II", "XVI") or parental relation ("Jr.", "Sr.").Currently, implementations typically place secondary surnames in the family name component and generational markers in the honorific suffixes component. For backwards compatibility, implementations SHOULD add such values to both the newly defined components and their backwards-compatible counterpart. Reading N property values, implementations SHOULD ignore any value in the backwards-compatible component if an equal value is set in the new component accordingly. For example, a "Jr." that occurs in both honorific suffixes and generation should only be handled as a generational marker.The following change is made to the first paragraph under "Special note", as originally specified in . The remaining paragraphs of that section in the original specification still apply.Special note: The structured property value corresponds, in
sequence, to the
family names (also known as surnames);
given names;
additional names;
honorific prefixes;
honorific suffixes;
secondary surname; and
generation.
The following change is made under "ABNF", as originally specified in .ABNF
N-param = "VALUE=text" / sort-as-param / language-param
/ altid-param / any-param
N-value = list-component 6(";" list-component)
The following change is made under "Examples", as originally specified in .Examples
N:Public;John;Quinlan;Mr.;Esq.
N:Stevenson;John;Philip,Paul;Dr.;Jr.,M.D.,A.C.P.;;Jr.
No change is required for the definition of the SORT-AS parameter, but the new components also apply for use with this parameter.New PropertiesCREATED
Property name:
CREATED
Purpose:
Defines the date and time when the vCard was created.
Value type:
A single timestamp value.
Cardinality:
*1
Property parameters:
VALUE
Description:
This is the timestamp when the vCard was created. Copying the
vCard across systems does not count as a new creation nor
a new revision. Instead, the timestamp value typically
stays unchanged for the existence of the vCard.
Format definition:
created = "CREATED" createdparam ":" timestamp
createdparam = *(
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
(";" "VALUE" "=" "timestamp") /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
(";" any-param)
;
)
Defines which grammatical gender to use in salutations and other grammatical constructs.
Value type:
A single text value that is restricted to an enumerated list of allowed values.
Cardinality:
*
Property parameters:
LANGUAGE
Description:
This property defines the grammatical gender that the contact prefers
to be addressed by or referred to as in written or spoken form.
For example, the German language distinguishes by grammatical gender in salutations such as "Sehr geehrte" (feminine) and "Sehr geehrter" (masculine).
Multiple occurrences of this property
MUST be distinguished by the LANGUAGE parameter.
Format definition:
gramgender = "GRAMGENDER" gramgender-param
":" gramgender-value
gramgender-param =
*(
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
(";" language-param) /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
(";" any-param)
;
)
gramgender-value = "animate" /
"common" /
"feminine" /
"inanimate" /
"masculine" /
"neuter" /
iana-token /
x-name
Example(s):
GRAMGENDER;LANGUAGE=de:feminine
LANGUAGE
Property name:
LANGUAGE
Purpose:
Defines the default language that human-readable text values in this vCard are assumed to be written in.
Value type:
A single Language-Tag value as defined in .
Cardinality:
*1
Property parameters:
The LANGUAGE parameter MUST NOT be assigned to this property.
Description:
This property defines the language that property values of type
TEXT are assumed to be written in for this vCard.
If a vCard property includes the LANGUAGE parameter, then the
parameter value has higher precedence than the LANGUAGE
property value.
Format definition:
language-prop = "LANGUAGE" any-param ":" Language-Tag
; Language-Tag is defined in RFC 6350, Section 4.
Example(s):
LANGUAGE:de-AT
PRONOUNS
Property name:
PRONOUNS
Purpose:
Defines the pronouns that shall be used
to refer to the entity represented by this vCard.
Value type:
A single text value.
Cardinality:
*
Property parameters:
LANGUAGE, PREF, TYPE, ALTID
Description:
This property contains the pronouns that the contact chooses to use for themselves.
The value is free-form text. These pronouns shall be used
when addressing or referring to the contact. Multiple occurrences of
this property MAY define pronouns for multiple languages,
preferences, and contexts. Multiple pronouns in the same language
SHOULD use the PREF parameter; otherwise, the order of
preference is implementation-specific.
Format definition:
pronouns = "PRONOUNS" pronouns-param ":" text
pronouns-param =
*(
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; but MUST NOT occur more than once.
;
(";" language-param) /
(";" pref-param) /
(";" type-param) /
(";" altid-param) /
;
; The following are OPTIONAL
; and MAY occur more than once.
;
(";" any-param)
;
)
Specifies the URI or username for social media profiles associated with the object the vCard represents.
Value type:
A single URI or TEXT value. The default value type is URI.
Cardinality:
*
Property parameters:
The SERVICE-TYPE parameter MUST be assigned to this property if the value type is TEXT, and it MAY be assigned if the value type is URI. In either case, it MUST NOT be assigned more than once.
Description:
Several vCard address book implementations currently use an experimental X-SOCIALPROFILE property to store social media profiles for contacts. This specification provides an IANA-registered property for the same purpose. In addition to the typical use of this property with URI values, it also allows setting usernames for social media services as free-text TEXT values, in which case the service name MUST be provided as a parameter. Names MUST be considered equal if they match case-insensitively.
Format definition:
socialpr = "SOCIALPROFILE" socialpr-param ":"
socialpr-value
socialpr-param = "VALUE=uri" / "VALUE=text" /
service-type-param / any-param
socialpr-value = URI / text
Identifies the author of the associated property value.
Description:
This parameter MAY be set on any property where conveying authorship is desired. It identifies the author as a URI . Since every valid URI includes the COLON (U+003A) character, the parameter value MUST be quoted. As an alternative or in addition to this parameter, the AUTHOR-NAME parameter allows naming an author as a free-text value (see ).
Format definition:
author-param = "AUTHOR" "=" DQUOTE URI DQUOTE
Example(s):
NOTE;AUTHOR="mailto:john@example.com":This is some note.
AUTHOR-NAME
Parameter name:
AUTHOR-NAME
Purpose:
Names the author of the associated property value.
Description:
This parameter MAY be set on any property where conveying authorship is desired. It names the author as a free-text value. The parameter value MUST NOT be empty.
Implementations MUST take care to quote the name part; if otherwise, the part will not be a valid "param-value" (see ). As an alternative or in addition to this parameter, the AUTHOR parameter allows identifying an author by URI (see ).
Format definition:
author-name-param = "AUTHOR-NAME" "=" param-value ; not empty
Example(s):
NOTE;AUTHOR-NAME=John Doe:This is some note.
NOTE;AUTHOR-NAME="_:l33tHckr:_":A note by an unusual author name.
CREATED
Parameter name:
CREATED
Purpose:
Defines the date and time when a property was created in a vCard.
Description:
This parameter MAY be set on any property to define the point in time when the property was created. The value MUST be a valid TIMESTAMP value as defined in . Generally, updating a property value SHOULD NOT change the creation timestamp.
Format definition:
created-param = "CREATED" "=" param-value
; a valid TIMESTAMP of Section 4.3.5 of RFC 6350
Example(s):
NOTE;CREATED=20221122T151823Z:This is some note.
DERIVED
Parameter name:
DERIVED
Purpose:
Specifies that the value of the associated property is derived from some other property values in the same vCard.
Description:
This property parameter SHOULD be specified on a property if the property value is derived from some other properties in the same vCard. When present with a value of "true", clients MUST NOT update the property.As an example, an implementation may derive the value of the FN property from the name components of the N property. It indicates this fact by setting the DERIVED parameter on the FN property to "true".
N:;John;Quinlan;Mr.;
FN;DERIVED=TRUE:Mr. John Quinlan
LABEL
Parameter name:
LABEL
Purpose:
Used with the ADR property. Its value contains a formatted text representation of that address, e.g., for delivery.
Description:
defines the ADR property, noting that the property can also include a LABEL parameter to present a delivery address label for the address. But this parameter was not included in the IANA "vCard Parameters" registry () and, accordingly, is not a registered standard vCard element. This specification defines and registers the LABEL parameter for use with the ADR property as originally intended.
Format definition:
label-param = "LABEL" "=" param-value
Example(s):
The LABEL parameter as illustrated in the ADR property example in .
ADR;LABEL="Mr. John Q. Public, Esq.\nMail Drop: TNE QB\n123
Main Street\nAny Town, CA 91921-1234\nU.S.A.":
;;123 Main Street;Any Town;CA;91921-1234;U.S.A.
PHONETIC
Parameter name:
PHONETIC
Purpose:
Defines how to pronounce the value of another property in the same vCard.
Description:
This property parameter indicates that the value of its property contains the phonetic representation of another same-named property in the same vCard. Exemplary uses are defining how to pronounce Japanese names and romanizing Mandarin or Cantonese names and address components.The parameter value indicates the phonetic system and MUST be one of the values enumerated in the IANA "vCard Parameter Values" registry. This specification defines the following values:
"ipa":
denotes the International Phonetic Alphabet.
"jyut":
denotes the Cantonese romanization system "Jyutping".
"piny":
denotes the Standard Mandarin romanization system "Hanyu Pinyin".
"script":
denotes the unknown phonetic system. The SCRIPT parameter MUST be set in addition to the PHONETIC parameter.
The value type of the property on which the PHONETIC parameter is set MUST be of the same type as its related property. If a component value is set in the property on which the PHONETIC parameter is set, then a component value also MUST be set at that same position in the related property. On the other hand, not every component value in the related property needs to have a phonetic representation.The ALTID () parameter MUST be set with equal values on both the related property and the property having the PHONETIC parameter set. If more than one same-named property has both the PHONETIC parameter set and an equal ALTID parameter value, then at most, one of these properties MAY not have the LANGUAGE parameter set, and all others MUST have the LANGUAGE parameter set. The LANGUAGE parameters MUST NOT have equal values. The LANGUAGE parameter value SHOULD NOT contain a script subtag in its Language-Tag value, and any such subtag MUST be ignored in favor of the SCRIPT parameter value.This specification defines the PHONETIC parameter for use with the ADR and N properties.
Identifies a property among all its siblings of the same property name.
Description:
This parameter uniquely identifies a property among all of its siblings with the same name within a vCard. A valid PROP-ID value must be of 1 and a maximum of 255 octets in size, and it MUST only contain the ASCII alphanumeric characters ("A-Za-z0-9"), hyphen (-), and underscore ("_"). The identifier's only purpose is to uniquely identify siblings; its value has no other meaning. If an application makes use of PROP-ID, it SHOULD assign a unique identifier to each sibling property of the same name within their embedding component. The same identifier MAY be used for properties of a different name, and it MAY also be assigned to a same-named property that is not a sibling.
Resolving duplicate identifier conflicts is specific to the application. Similarly, handling properties where some but not all siblings have a PROP-ID assigned is application-specific.
PHOTO;PROP-ID=p827:data:image/jpeg;base64,MIICajCCAdOgAwIBAg
<...remainder of base64-encoded data...>
SCRIPT
Parameter name:
SCRIPT
Purpose:
Defines the script that a property value is written in.
Description:
This parameter allows defining a script for a property value without also defining a language as the LANGUAGE parameter would. The value MUST be a script subtag as defined in . This specification makes use of the SCRIPT parameter in combination with the PHONETIC parameter.
Format definition:
script-param = 4ALPHA
Example(s):
SCRIPT=Latn
SERVICE-TYPE
Parameter name:
SERVICE-TYPE
Purpose:
Defines the online service name associated with a messaging or social media profile.
Description:
This parameter MAY be specified on an Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol (IMPP) or a SOCIALPROFILE property to name the online service associated with that property value. Its value is case-sensitive; its letter cases MUST be preserved.Several vCard address book implementations currently use an experimental X-SERVICE-TYPE parameter. This specification provides an IANA-registered parameter for the same purpose.
Defines a username such as the user of a messaging or social media service.
Description:
This parameter MAY be specified on an IMPP or a SOCIALPROFILE property to name the user with that property value. Its value is case-sensitive; its letter cases MUST be preserved. The IMPP or SOCIALPROFILE value type MUST be URI.
Indicates using this address for billing, e.g., to send invoices to.
Conformance:
This value can be used with the TYPE parameter applied on the ADR property.
Example(s):
ADR;TYPE=billing:;;123 Main Street;Any Town;CA;91921-1234;U.S.A.
Delivery Address Type Value
Value:
delivery
Purpose:
Indicates using this address for delivery, e.g., to send packages to.
Conformance:
This value can be used with the TYPE parameter applied on the ADR property.
Example(s):
ADR;TYPE=delivery:;;123 Main Street;Any Town;CA;91921-1234;U.S.A.
Security ConsiderationsThis specification extends "vCard Format Specification" . The same security considerations as outlined in apply.IANA ConsiderationsChanges to the vCard Properties RegistryNew vCard Property DefinitionsIANA has added the following entries to the "vCard Properties" registry, as defined in .
New vCard Properties
Namespace
Property
Reference
CREATED
RFC 9554,
GRAMGENDER
RFC 9554,
LANGUAGE
RFC 9554,
PRONOUNS
RFC 9554,
SOCIALPROFILE
RFC 9554,
Updated vCard Properties
IANA has added of this document as a reference for the ADR
property and of this document as a reference for the N
property in the "vCard Properties" registry.
Changes to the vCard Parameters RegistryIANA has added the following entries to the "vCard Parameters" registry, as defined in .
New vCard Parameters
Namespace
Parameter
Reference
AUTHOR
RFC 9554,
AUTHOR-NAME
RFC 9554,
CREATED
RFC 9554,
DERIVED
RFC 9554,
LABEL
and
RFC 9554,
PHONETIC
RFC 9554,
PROP-ID
RFC 9554,
SCRIPT
RFC 9554,
SERVICE-TYPE
RFC 9554,
USERNAME
RFC 9554,
Changes to the vCard Property Values RegistryIANA has added the following entries to the "vCard Property Values" registry, as defined in .
New vCard Property Values
Property
Value
Reference
GRAMGENDER
animate
RFC 9554,
GRAMGENDER
common
RFC 9554,
GRAMGENDER
feminine
RFC 9554,
GRAMGENDER
inanimate
RFC 9554,
GRAMGENDER
masculine
RFC 9554,
GRAMGENDER
neuter
RFC 9554,
Changes to the vCard Parameter Values RegistryIANA has added the following entries to the "vCard Parameter Values" registry, as defined in .
New vCard Property and Parameter Values
Property
Parameter
Value
Reference
ADR
TYPE
billing
RFC 9554,
ADR
TYPE
delivery
RFC 9554,
ADR, N
PHONETIC
ipa
RFC 9554,
ADR, N
PHONETIC
jyut
RFC 9554,
ADR, N
PHONETIC
piny
RFC 9554,
ADR, N
PHONETIC
script
RFC 9554,
ReferencesNormative ReferencesKey words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement LevelsIn many standards track documents several words are used to signify the requirements in the specification. These words are often capitalized. This document defines these words as they should be interpreted in IETF documents. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic SyntaxA Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a compact sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource. This specification defines the generic URI syntax and a process for resolving URI references that might be in relative form, along with guidelines and security considerations for the use of URIs on the Internet. The URI syntax defines a grammar that is a superset of all valid URIs, allowing an implementation to parse the common components of a URI reference without knowing the scheme-specific requirements of every possible identifier. This specification does not define a generative grammar for URIs; that task is performed by the individual specifications of each URI scheme. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNFInternet technical specifications often need to define a formal syntax. Over the years, a modified version of Backus-Naur Form (BNF), called Augmented BNF (ABNF), has been popular among many Internet specifications. The current specification documents ABNF. It balances compactness and simplicity with reasonable representational power. The differences between standard BNF and ABNF involve naming rules, repetition, alternatives, order-independence, and value ranges. This specification also supplies additional rule definitions and encoding for a core lexical analyzer of the type common to several Internet specifications. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Tags for Identifying LanguagesThis document describes the structure, content, construction, and semantics of language tags for use in cases where it is desirable to indicate the language used in an information object. It also describes how to register values for use in language tags and the creation of user-defined extensions for private interchange. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.vCard Format SpecificationThis document defines the vCard data format for representing and exchanging a variety of information about individuals and other entities (e.g., formatted and structured name and delivery addresses, email address, multiple telephone numbers, photograph, logo, audio clips, etc.). This document obsoletes RFCs 2425, 2426, and 4770, and updates RFC 2739. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key WordsRFC 2119 specifies common key words that may be used in protocol specifications. This document aims to reduce the ambiguity by clarifying that only UPPERCASE usage of the key words have the defined special meanings.JSContact: A JSON Representation of Contact DataJSContact: Converting from and to vCardIIT-CNR/Registro.itFastmailInformative ReferencesvObject InternationalizationRiboseRiboseSpherical Cow GroupWork in ProgressUnicode Locale Data Markup Language (LDML) Part 8: Person Namesother CLDR committee membersInternational Phonetic AlphabetIPAAcknowledgementsThe definition and examples of the PHONETIC and SCRIPT parameters are based on the early draft version of .Authors' AddressesFastmailPO Box 234Collins St. WestMelbourneVIC8007Australiarsto@fastmailteam.comIIT-CNRVia Moruzzi, 1Pisa56124Italymario.loffredo@iit.cnr.it