Forum: Ruby on Rails cardmagic / contacts to import email contacts (GMAIL,Y!, etc.)

Hello, I'm looking for a solution to allow users to import their
contact lists. The Contacts Gem seems to be the only solution out
there.

Is it correct that the contacts gem screen scrapes and doesn't use the
provider's APIs to import email addresses? If so, why? Why not use the
APIs?

CuriousNewbie wrote in post #969121:
> Hello, I'm looking for a solution to allow users to import their
> contact lists. The Contacts Gem seems to be the only solution out
> there.

I've heard of the Blackbook gem, but I don't know if it's still 
maintained.

>
> Is it correct that the contacts gem screen scrapes and doesn't use the
> provider's APIs to import email addresses? If so, why? Why not use the
> APIs?

Why not check the source?

Best,
--
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
marnen@marnen.org