This session creates, updates, and deletes Contacts in bulk. The data for create and update is provided by the consumer via the form object. OsidForms are requested for each create or update and may not be reused.

Create and update operations differ in their usage. To create a Contact, a ContactForm is requested using getContactFormsForCreate() specifying the desired address, reference, and record Types or none if no record Types are needed. Each of the returned ContactForms will indicate that it is to be used with a create operation and can be used to examine metdata or validate data prior to creation. Once a ContactForm is submiited to a create operation, it cannot be reused with another create operation unless the first operation was unsuccessful. Each ContactForm corresponds to an attempted transaction.

The ContactForms returned from getContactFormsForCreate() may be linked to the originating request through the peer Ids of the ContactForm. In the case where there may be duplicates, any ContactForm of the same peer Ids may be used for a create operation.

Once a batch of ContactForms are submitted for create, a CreateResponse is returned for each ContactForm, although the ordering is not defined. Only errors that pertain to the entire create operation are returned from createContacts(), errors specific to an individual ContactForm are indicated in the corresponding CreateResponse. CreateResponses may be linked to the originating ContactForm through the ContactForm Id .

For updates, ContactForms are requested to the Contact Id that is to be updated using getContactFormsForUpdate() where the reference Id in the ContactForm may be used to link the request. Similarly, the ContactForm has metadata about the data that can be updated and it can perform validation before submitting the update. The ContactForm can only be used once for a successful update and cannot be reused.

Once a batch of ContactForms are submitted for update, an UpdateResponse is returned for each ContactForm, although the ordering is not defined. Only errors that pertain to the entire update operation are returned from updateContacts(), errors specific to an individual ContactForm are indicated in the corresponding UpdateResponse. UpdateResponses may be linked to the originating ContactForm through the ContactForm Id.

The delete operations delete Contacts in bulk. To unmap a Contact from the current AddressBook, the ContactAddressBookAssignmentSession should be used. These delete operations attempt to remove the Contact itself thus removing it from all known AddressBook catalogs. Bulk delete operations return the results in DeleteResponses.