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jCard: The JSON format for vCard
draft-kewisch-vcard-in-json-00

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Replaced".
Author Philipp Kewisch
Last updated 2013-02-13
Replaced by RFC 7095, draft-ietf-jcardcal-jcard
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draft-kewisch-vcard-in-json-00
Network Working Group                                         P. Kewisch
Internet-Draft                                                   Mozilla
Intended status: Standards Track                       February 13, 2013
Expires: August 17, 2013

                    jCard: The JSON format for vCard
                     draft-kewisch-vcard-in-json-00

Abstract

   This specification defines "jCard", a JSON format for vCard data.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on August 17, 2013.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Conventions Used in This Document  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   3.  Converting from vCard to jCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     3.1.  Pre-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     3.2.  vCard Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     3.3.  Properties (RFC6350 section 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       3.3.1.  Special Cases for Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
         3.3.1.1.  Multi-valued Properties  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
         3.3.1.2.  Grouping of Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     3.4.  Parameters (RFC6350 section 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       3.4.1.  VALUE parameter  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       3.4.2.  Multi-value Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     3.5.  Values (RFC6350 section 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       3.5.1.  Text (RFC6350 section 4.1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       3.5.2.  URI (RFC6350 section 4.2)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       3.5.3.  Date (RFC6350 section 4.3.1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       3.5.4.  Time (RFC6350 section 4.3.2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       3.5.5.  Date-Time (RFC6350 section 4.3.3)  . . . . . . . . . . 12
       3.5.6.  Date and/or Time (RFC6350 section 4.3.4) . . . . . . . 12
       3.5.7.  Timestamp (RFC6350 section 4.3.5)  . . . . . . . . . . 12
       3.5.8.  Boolean (RFC6350 section 4.4)  . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       3.5.9.  Integer (RFC6350 section 4.5)  . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       3.5.10. Float (RFC6350 section 4.6)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       3.5.11. UTC Offset (RFC6350 section 4.7) . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       3.5.12. Language Tag (RFC6350 section 4.8) . . . . . . . . . . 14
     3.6.  Extensions (RFC6350 section 6.10)  . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   4.  Converting from jCard into vCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   5.  Handling Unrecognized Properties or Parameters . . . . . . . . 15
   6.  Conversion of Date and Time Related Data Types . . . . . . . . 16
     6.1.  Conversion from jCard to vCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
     6.2.  Conversion from vCard to jCard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   8.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   9.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   Appendix A.  ABNF Schema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   Appendix B.  Examples  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
     B.1.  Example: vCard of the author of RFC6350  . . . . . . . . . 21
       B.1.1.  vCard Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
       B.1.2.  jCard Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   Appendix C.  Open Issues (to be removed prior to publication
                as an RFC)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   Appendix D.  Change History (to be removed prior to
                publication as an RFC)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

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1.  Introduction

   The vCard data format [RFC6350] has gone through multiple revisions,
   most recently vCard 4.  The goal followed by this format is the
   capture and exchange of information normally stored within an address
   book or directory application.  As certain similarities to the
   iCalendar data format [RFC5545] exist it makes sense to define a
   JSON-based data format for vCards that is similar to the jCal format
   defined in [draft-kewisch-et-al-icalendar-in-json].

   The purpose of this specification is to define "jCard", a JSON format
   for vCard data.  One main advantage to using a JSON-based format as
   defined in [RFC4627] over the classic vCard format is easier
   processing for JavaScript based widgets and libraries, especially in
   the scope of web-based applications.

   The key design considerations are essentially the same as those for
   [draft-kewisch-et-al-icalendar-in-json] and [RFC6321], that is:

      Round-tripping (converting a vCard instance to jCard and back)
      will give the same semantic result as the starting point.  For
      example, all components, properties and property parameters are
      guaranteed to be preserved, with the exception of those which have
      default values.

      Ordering of elements will not necessarily be preserved.

      Preserve the semantics of the vCard data.  While a simple consumer
      can easily browse the data in jCard, a full understanding of vCard
      is still required in order to modify and/or fully comprehend the
      directory data.

      Ability to handle many extensions to the underlying vCard
      specification without requiring an update to this document.

2.  Conventions Used in This Document

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

   The underlying format used for jCard is JSON.  Consequently, the
   terms "object" and "array" as well as the four primitive types are to
   be interpreted as described in Section 1 of [RFC4627].

   Some examples in this document contain "partial" JSON documents used
   for illustrative purposes.  In these examples, three periods "..."
   are used to indicate a portion of the document that has been removed

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   for compactness.

3.  Converting from vCard to jCard

   This section describes how vCard data is converted to jCard using a
   simple mapping between the vCard data model and JSON elements.

3.1.  Pre-processing

   vCard uses a line folding mechanism to limit lines of data to a
   maximum line length (typically 72 characters) to ensure maximum
   likelihood of preserving data integrity as it is transported via
   various means (e.g., email) - see Section 3.2 of [RFC6350].  Prior to
   converting vCard data into jCard all folded lines MUST be unfolded.

   vCard data uses an "escape" character sequence for text values and
   property parameter values.  When such text elements are converted
   into jCard the escaping MUST be removed.  See Section 3.4 of
   [RFC6350].

   One key difference in the formatting of values used in vCard and
   jCard is that in jCard the specification uses date/time values
   aligned with the complete representation, extended format of
   [ISO.8601.2004].

3.2.  vCard Stream

   The vCard 4 standard doesn't define a stream of vcard elements.  To
   easier identify multiple jCard objects and provide compatibility to
   jCal, multiple jCard objects MAY be streamed using an array, where
   the first element is the string "vcardstream".  Subsequent elements
   are vCard objects represented as described in this document.

   In the typical case where there is only one vCard object,
   encapsulation inside a "vcardstream" array MAY be omitted.

   A vCard stream can contain one or more vCard objects.  Each vCard
   object, delimited by "BEGIN:VCARD" and "END:VCARD", is represented in
   JSON as a fixed length array with two elements:

   1.  The string "vcard"

   2.  An array of jCard properties

   The representation of a vCard object in JSON will be named "vcard
   component" throughout this document.

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   Example:

   ["vcardstream",
     ["vcard",
       [ /* properties */ ]
     ],
     ["vcard",
       [ /* properties */ ]
     ],
     ...
   ]

   vCard objects are comprised of a set of "properties", "parameters"
   and "values".  The top level of a vCard object contains "properties".
   A "property" has a "value" and a set of zero or more "parameters".
   vCard objects are delimited by the general properties "BEGIN" and
   "END" with the fixed value "VCARD" as defined in Section 6.1.1 and
   6.1.2 of [RFC6350].  In addition, the vCard format is versioned,
   therefore the "version" property is mandatory.  To comply with
   Section 6.7.9 of [RFC6350], the value of the version property MUST be
   "4.0".

3.3.  Properties (RFC6350 section 6)

   Each individual vCard property is represented in jCard by an array
   with three fixed elements, followed by one or more additional
   elements, depending on if the property is a multi-value property as
   described in Section 3.3 of [RFC6350].

   The array consists of the following fixed elements:

   1.  The name of the property as a string, but in lowercase.

   2.  An object containing the parameters as described in Section 3.4.

   3.  The type identifier string of the value, in lowercase.

   The remaining elements of the array are used for the values of the
   property.  Properties have at least one value, so the array will have
   a minimum of four elements, but there can be any number of additional
   elements for multi-valued properties as described in Section 3.3.1.1.

   The array describing the property can then be inserted into the array
   designated for properties in the "vcard" component.

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   Example:

   ["vcard",
     [
       ["version", {}, "text", "4.0"],
       ["fn", {}, "text", "John Doe"],
       ["gender", {}, "text", "M"],
       ...
     ],
   ]

   The property parameters in the second element of the property array
   associate a set of parameter names with their respective value.
   Parameters are further described in Section 3.4.

   To allow for a cleaner implementation, the parameter object MUST be
   present even if there are no parameters.  In this case, an empty
   object MUST be used.

   As an example, the table below shows vCard to jCard mappings for
   current vCard properties.  Any new vCard properties added in the
   future will be converted in the same way.

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            +--------------+--------------+-------------------+
            | Property     | jCard Name   | RFC6350 Section   |
            +--------------+--------------+-------------------+
            | BEGIN        | not mapped   | [RFC6350] # 6.1.1 |
            | END          | not mapped   | [RFC6350] # 6.1.2 |
            | SOURCE       | source       | [RFC6350] # 6.1.3 |
            | KIND         | kind         | [RFC6350] # 6.1.4 |
            | XML          | xml          | [RFC6350] # 6.1.5 |
            | FN           | fn           | [RFC6350] # 6.2.1 |
            | N            | n            | [RFC6350] # 6.2.2 |
            | NICKNAME     | nickname     | [RFC6350] # 6.2.3 |
            | PHOTO        | photo        | [RFC6350] # 6.2.4 |
            | BDAY         | bday         | [RFC6350] # 6.2.5 |
            | ANNIVERSARY  | anniversary  | [RFC6350] # 6.2.6 |
            | GENDER       | gender       | [RFC6350] # 6.2.7 |
            | ADR          | adr          | [RFC6350] # 6.3.1 |
            | TEL          | tel          | [RFC6350] # 6.4.1 |
            | EMAIL        | email        | [RFC6350] # 6.4.2 |
            | IMPP         | impp         | [RFC6350] # 6.4.3 |
            | LANG         | lang         | [RFC6350] # 6.4.4 |
            | TZ           | tz           | [RFC6350] # 6.5.1 |
            | GEO          | geo          | [RFC6350] # 6.5.2 |
            | TITLE        | title        | [RFC6350] # 6.6.1 |
            | ROLE         | role         | [RFC6350] # 6.6.2 |
            | LOGO         | logo         | [RFC6350] # 6.6.3 |
            | ORG          | org          | [RFC6350] # 6.6.4 |
            | MEMBER       | member       | [RFC6350] # 6.6.5 |
            | RELATED      | related      | [RFC6350] # 6.6.6 |
            | CATEGORIES   | categories   | [RFC6350] # 6.7.1 |
            | NOTE         | note         | [RFC6350] # 6.7.2 |
            | PRODID       | prodid       | [RFC6350] # 6.7.3 |
            | REV          | rev          | [RFC6350] # 6.7.4 |
            | SOUND        | sound        | [RFC6350] # 6.7.5 |
            | UID          | uid          | [RFC6350] # 6.7.6 |
            | CLIENTPIDMAP | clientpidmap | [RFC6350] # 6.7.7 |
            | URL          | url          | [RFC6350] # 6.7.8 |
            | VERSION      | version      | [RFC6350] # 6.7.9 |
            | KEY          | key          | [RFC6350] # 6.8.1 |
            | FBURL        | fburl        | [RFC6350] # 6.9.1 |
            | CALADRURI    | caladruri    | [RFC6350] # 6.9.2 |
            | CALURI       | caluri       | [RFC6350] # 6.9.3 |
            +--------------+--------------+-------------------+

3.3.1.  Special Cases for Properties

   This section describes some properties that have special handling
   when converting to jCard.

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3.3.1.1.  Multi-valued Properties

   The following vCard properties can have values that consist of a list
   of "standard" vCard values separated by a specific delimiter.  In
   jCard these properties are added as further members of the array
   describing the property.

              +------------+------------+-------------------+
              | Property   | jCard Name | RFC6350 Section   |
              +------------+------------+-------------------+
              | NICKNAME   | nickname   | [RFC6350] # 6.2.3 |
              | CATEGORIES | categories | [RFC6350] # 6.7.1 |
              +------------+------------+-------------------+

   Example:

   ["vcard",
     [
       ["categories", {}, "text", "computers", "cameras"],
       ...
     ],
     ...
   ]

3.3.1.2.  Grouping of Properties

   [RFC6350] Section 3.3 defines a grouping construct that is used to
   group related properties together.  In jCard, each grouped property
   appears as a separate property containing the group name and property
   name, separated by a "." character.  This was done to maintain
   compatibilty of array elements with
   [draft-kewisch-et-al-icalendar-in-json].

   Example:

   ["vcard",
     [
       ["groupname.email", {}, "text", "johndoe@example.org"],
       ...
     ],
     ...
   ]

3.4.  Parameters (RFC6350 section 5)

   Property parameters are represented as a JSON object where each key-
   value pair represents the vCard parameter name and its value.  The
   name of the parameter MUST be in lowercase, the original case of the

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   parameter value MUST be preserved.

   Example:

   ["vcard",
     [
       ["role", { "lang": "tr" }, "text", "roca"],
       ...
     ],
     ...
   ]

   As an example, the table below shows vCard to jCard mappings for
   current vCard parameters.  Any new vCard parameters added in the
   future will be converted in the same way.

               +-----------+------------+------------------+
               | Parameter | jCard Name | RFC6350 Section  |
               +-----------+------------+------------------+
               | LANGUAGE  | language   | [RFC6350] # 5.1  |
               | VALUE     | not mapped | [RFC6350] # 5.2  |
               | PREF      | pref       | [RFC6350] # 5.3  |
               | ALTID     | altid      | [RFC6350] # 5.4  |
               | PID       | pid        | [RFC6350] # 5.5  |
               | TYPE      | type       | [RFC6350] # 5.6  |
               | MEDIATYPE | mediatype  | [RFC6350] # 5.7  |
               | CALSCALE  | calscale   | [RFC6350] # 5.8  |
               | SORT-AS   | sort-as    | [RFC6350] # 5.9  |
               | GEO       | geo        | [RFC6350] # 5.10 |
               | TZ        | tz         | [RFC6350] # 5.11 |
               +-----------+------------+------------------+

3.4.1.  VALUE parameter

   vCard defines a "VALUE" property parameter (Section 5.2 of
   [RFC6350]).  This property parameter MUST NOT be added to the
   parameters object.  Instead, the value type is always explicitly
   mentioned in the third element of the array describing the property.
   Thus, when converting from vCard to jCard, any "VALUE" property
   parameters are skipped.  When converting from jCard into vCard, the
   appropriate "VALUE" property parameter MUST be included in the vCard
   property if the value type is not the default value type for that
   property.

3.4.2.  Multi-value Parameters

   In [RFC6350], some parameters allow using a COMMA-separated list of
   values.  To ease processing in jCard, the value to such parameters

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   MUST be represented in an array containing the separated values.  The
   array elements MUST be string values.  Single-value parameters SHOULD
   be represented using a single string value, but an array with one
   element MAY also be used.

   DQUOTE characters used to encapsulate the separated values MUST NOT
   be added to the jCard parameter value.

   Example 1:

   ["vcard",
     [
       ["n",
        { "sort-as": ["Harten", "Rene"] },
        "text",
        "van der Harten;Rene,J.;Sir;R.D.O.N."
       ],
       ["fn", {}, "text", "Rene van der Harten"]
       ...
     ],
     ...
   ]

   As an example, the table below shows a list of vCard parameters where
   COMMA-separated values are used.  Any new vCard parameters added in
   the future will be handled in the same way.

                      +-----------+-----------------+
                      | Parameter | RFC6350 Section |
                      +-----------+-----------------+
                      | PID       | [RFC6350] # 5.5 |
                      | TYPE      | [RFC6350] # 5.6 |
                      | SORT-AS   | [RFC6350] # 5.9 |
                      +-----------+-----------------+

3.5.  Values (RFC6350 section 4)

   The type of a vCard value is explicitly mentioned in the third
   element of the array describing a jCard property.  The actual values
   of the property can be found in the fourth and following elements of
   the array.

3.5.1.  Text (RFC6350 section 4.1)

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   Description:  vCard "TEXT" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "text".  The value elements are
      JSON strings.

   Example:

   ...
   ["kind", {}, "text", "group"],
   ...

3.5.2.  URI (RFC6350 section 4.2)

   Description:  vCard "URI" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "uri".  The value elements are
      JSON strings.

   Example:

   ...
   ["source", {}, "uri", "ldap://ldap.example.com/cn=babs%20jensen"],
   ...

3.5.3.  Date (RFC6350 section 4.3.1)

   Description:  vCard "DATE" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "date".  The value elements are
      JSON strings with the same date value specified by [RFC6350], but
      formatted using the [ISO.8601.2004] complete representation,
      extended format.  The textual format specifies a four-digit year,
      two-digit month, and two-digit day of the month, separated by the
      "-" character.

   Example:

   ...
   ["bday", {}, "date", "1970-01-01"],
   ...

3.5.4.  Time (RFC6350 section 4.3.2)

   Description:  vCard "TIME" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "time".  The value elements are
      JSON strings with the same time value specified by [RFC6350], but
      formatted using the [ISO.8601.2004] complete representation,
      extended format.  The textual format specifies a two-digit, 24-
      hour of the day (i.e., values 00-23), two-digit minute in the hour
      (i.e., values 00-59), and two-digit seconds in the minute (i.e.,
      values 00-60).  The seconds value of 60 MUST only be used to

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      account for positive "leap" seconds.  Fractions of a second are
      not supported by this format.  Contrary to
      [draft-kewisch-et-al-icalendar-in-json], UTC offsets are permitted
      within a time value.

   Example:

   ...
   ["x-time-local", {}, "time", "12:30:00"],
   ["x-time-utc", {}, "time", "12:30:00Z"],
   ["x-time-offset", "time", "12:30:00-0800"],
   ...

3.5.5.  Date-Time (RFC6350 section 4.3.3)

   Description:  vCard "DATE-TIME" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "date-time".  The value elements
      are JSON strings with the same date value specified by [RFC6350],
      but formatted using the [ISO.8601.2004] complete representation,
      extended format.  The same restrictions with respect to leap
      seconds, fractions of a second and UTC offsets as in Section 3.5.4
      apply.

   Example:

   ...
   ["anniversary", {}, "date-time", "2013-02-14T12:30:00"],
   ["anniversary", {}, "date-time", "2013-01-10T19:00:00Z"],
   ["anniversary", {}, "date-time", "2013-08-15T09:45:00+0100"],
   ...

3.5.6.  Date and/or Time (RFC6350 section 4.3.4)

   Description:  jCard has no direct equivalent to vCard's "DATE-AND-OR-
      TIME" property value data type.  Instead, the specified date,
      date-time or time format MUST be detected and the property MUST be
      represented by a property with the detected type identifier.  See
      Section 6 for more information on how conversion between jCard and
      vCard should be handled.

3.5.7.  Timestamp (RFC6350 section 4.3.5)

   Description:  jCard has no direct equivalent to vCard's "TIMESTAMP"
      property value data type.  Instead, the specified complete date
      and time of day combination MUST be represented by a property with
      the "date-time" identifier.  See Section 6 for more information on
      how conversion between jCard and vCard should be handled.

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3.5.8.  Boolean (RFC6350 section 4.4)

   Description:  vCard "BOOLEAN" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "boolean".  The value element is
      a JSON boolean value.

   Example:

   ...
   ["x-non-smoking", {}, "boolean", true],
   ...

3.5.9.  Integer (RFC6350 section 4.5)

   Description:  vCard "INTEGER" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "integer".  The value elements
      are JSON primitive number values.

   Examples:

   ...
   ["x-karma-points", {}, "integer", 42],
   ...

3.5.10.  Float (RFC6350 section 4.6)

   Description:  vCard "FLOAT" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "float".  The value elements are
      JSON primitive number values.

   Example:

   ...
   ["x-grade", {}, "float", 1.3],
   ...

3.5.11.  UTC Offset (RFC6350 section 4.7)

   Description:  vCard "UTC-OFFSET" property values are represented by a
      property with the type identifier "utc-offset".  The value
      elements are JSON strings with the same UTC offset value specified
      by [RFC6350], with the exception that the hour and minute
      components are separated by a ":" character, for consistency with
      the [ISO.8601.2004] timezone offset, extended format.

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   Example:

   ...
   // Note: [RFC6350] mentions use of utc-offset
   // for the TZ property as NOT RECOMMENDED
   ["tz", {}, "utc-offset", "-05:00"],
   ..

3.5.12.  Language Tag (RFC6350 section 4.8)

   Description:  vCard "LANGUAGE-TAG" property values are represented by
      a property with the type identifier "language-tag".  The value
      elements are JSON strings containing a single language-tag, as
      defined in [RFC5646].

   Example:

   ...
   ["lang", {}, "language-tag", "de"],
   ..

3.6.  Extensions (RFC6350 section 6.10)

   vCard extension properties and property parameters (those with an
   "X-" prefix in their name) are handled in the same way as other
   properties and property parameters: the property is represented by an
   array, the property parameter represented by an object.  The property
   or parameter name uses the same name as for the vCard extension, but
   in lowercase.  For example, the "X-FOO" property in vCard turns into
   the "x-foo" jCard property.  See Section 5 for how to deal with
   default values for unrecognized extension properties or property
   parameters.

4.  Converting from jCard into vCard

   When converting property and property parameter values, the names
   SHOULD be converted to uppercase.  Although vCard names are case
   insensitive, common practice is to keep them all uppercase following
   the actual definitions in [RFC6350].

   Backslash escaping and line folding MUST be applied to the resulting
   vCard data as required by [RFC6350].

   jCard properties that do not specify the default type for the vCard
   property MUST add a VALUE parameter when converting to vCard. jCard
   properties that specify the default type SHOULD NOT add a VALUE

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   parameter.

5.  Handling Unrecognized Properties or Parameters

   In vCard, properties have a default value type specified by their
   definition, e.g.  "BDAY"'s value type is "date-or-date-time", but it
   can also be reset to a single "text" value.  When a property uses its
   default value type, the "VALUE" property parameter does not need to
   be specified on the property.

   When new properties are defined or "X-" properties used, a vCard to
   jCard converter might not recognize them, and not know what the
   appropriate default value types are, yet they need to be able to
   preserve the values.  A similar issue arises for unrecognized
   property parameters.  As a result, the following rules are applied
   when dealing with unrecognized properties and property parameters:

   o  When converting vCard into jCard:

      *  Any property that does not include a "VALUE" property parameter
         and whose default value type is not known, MUST be converted to
         a string object.  The content of that string is the unprocessed
         value text.

      *  Any unrecognized property parameter MUST be converted to a
         string value, with its content set to the property parameter
         value text, treated as if it were a "TEXT" value.

   o  When converting jCard into vCard:

      *  Since jCard always explicitly specifies the value type, it can
         always be converted to vCard using the VALUE parameter.

      *  If the value type specified in jCard matches the default value
         type in vCard, the VALUE parameter SHOULD be omitted.

   Example: The following is an example of an unrecognized vCard
   property (that uses an "URI" value as its default), and the
   equivalent jCard representation of that property.

   vCard:

   X-COMPLAINT-URI:mailto:abuse@example.org

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   jCard:

   ...
   ["x-complaint-uri", {}, "text", "mailto:abuse@example.org"],
   ...

   Example: The following is an example of a jCard property (where the
   corresponding vCard property uses a "INTEGER" value as its default),
   and the equivalent vCard representation of that property.  It is
   assumed that the parser has knowledge of the default data type for
   the "x-karma-points" property.

   jCard:

   ...
   ["x-karma-points", {}, "integer", 95],
   ...

   vCard:

   X-KARMA-POINTS:95

   Example: The following is an example of an unrecognized vCard
   property parameter (that uses a "FLOAT" value as its default)
   specified on a recognized vCard property, and the equivalent jCard
   representation of that property and property parameter.

   vCard:

   GENDER;X-PROBABILITY=0.8:M

   jCard:

   ...
   ["gender", { "x-probability": "0.8" }, "text", "M"],
   ...

6.  Conversion of Date and Time Related Data Types

   [RFC6350] defines the data types DATE, DATE-TIME, TIME, DATE-AND-OR-
   TIME and TIMESTAMP, covering various aspects of dates and times.  As
   jCard is more "strongly typed", some of these types have been
   consolidated.  This section aims to aid conversion between jCard and
   vCard and vice versa.

   Regardless of the date/time related property converted, jCard and
   vCard use different representations of the [ISO.8601.2004] format.
   The date format MUST be adjusted during conversion.

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6.1.  Conversion from jCard to vCard

   o  If the property type of the jCard property matches the property's
      default type, the VALUE parameter MUST NOT be added to the vCard
      property.

   o  For property types "date-and-or-time" or "timestamp", the property
      value MUST be converted to a permitted date and/or time format as
      specified in [RFC6350] Section 4.3.4 and 4.3.5 and the VALUE
      parameter MUST NOT be added to the vCard property.  If a permitted
      conversion cannot be done, the VALUE parameter must be added with
      the closest available date/time format identifier.

   o  If the default type is unknown or the jCal property type does not
      match the default type, the VALUE parameter MUST be specified.

6.2.  Conversion from vCard to jCard

   o  If the parser knows the default type of the property and it is one
      of "DATE", "DATE-TIME" or "TIME", the properties can be directly
      converted following the guidelines of the respective format type
      in this document.

   o  For the property type "date-and-or-time", the parser SHOULD detect
      if it is handling either a date, a time, or a date-time and use
      the respective format identifier in jCard.

   o  For the property type "timestamp", the parser MUST use the format
      type identifier "date-time" in the jCard property.

   o  If the (default) property type is unknown, the property value MUST
      be treated as opaque text and the "text" format type identifier
      MUST be used.

7.  Security Considerations

   For security considerations specific to calendar data, see Section 9
   of [RFC6350].  Since this specification is a mapping from vCard, no
   new security concerns are introduced related to calendar data.

   The use of JSON as a format does have security risks.  Section 7 of
   [RFC4627] discusses these risks.

8.  IANA Considerations

   This document defines a MIME media type for use with vCard in JSON
   data.  This media type SHOULD be used for the transfer of calendaring
   data in JSON.

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   Type name:  application

   Subtype name:  vcard+json

   Required parameters:  none

   Optional parameters:  version as defined for the text/vcard media
      type in [RFC6350].

   Encoding considerations:  Same as encoding considerations of
      application/json as specified in [RFC4627].

   Security considerations:  See Section 7.

   Interoperability considerations:  This media type provides an
      alternative format for vCard data based on JSON.

   Published specification:  This specification.

   Applications which use this media type:  Applications that currently
      make use of the text/vcard media type can use this as an
      alternative.  Similarly, Applications that use the application/
      json media type to transfer directory data can use this to further
      specify the content.

   Person & email address to contact for further information:
      vcarddav@ietf.org

   Intended usage:  COMMON

   Restrictions on usage:  There are no restrictions on where this media
      type can be used.

   Author:  See the "Author's Address" section of this document.

   Change controller:  IETF

9.  Acknowledgments

   The author would like to thank the following for their valuable
   contributions: Cyrus Daboo, Mike Douglass, William Gill, Erwin Rehme,
   and Dave Thewlis.  This specification originated from the work of the
   XML-JSON technical committee of the Calendaring and Scheduling
   Consortium.

10.  References

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10.1.  Normative References

   [ISO.8601.2004]                          International Organization
                                            for Standardization, ""Data
                                            elements and interchange
                                            formats -- Information
                                            interchange --
                                            Representation of dates and
                                            times"", ISO 8601, 12 2004.

   [RFC2119]                                Bradner, S., "Key words for
                                            use in RFCs to Indicate
                                            Requirement Levels", BCP 14,
                                            RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC5234]                                Crocker, D. and P. Overell,
                                            "Augmented BNF for Syntax
                                            Specifications: ABNF",
                                            STD 68, RFC 5234,
                                            January 2008.

   [RFC5545]                                Desruisseaux, B., "Internet
                                            Calendaring and Scheduling
                                            Core Object Specification
                                            (iCalendar)", RFC 5545,
                                            September 2009.

   [RFC5646]                                Phillips, A. and M. Davis,
                                            "Tags for Identifying
                                            Languages", BCP 47,
                                            RFC 5646, September 2009.

   [RFC6321]                                Daboo, C., Douglass, M., and
                                            S. Lees, "xCal: The XML
                                            Format for iCalendar",
                                            RFC 6321, August 2011.

   [RFC6350]                                Perreault, S., "vCard Format
                                            Specification", RFC 6350,
                                            August 2011.

   [draft-kewisch-et-al-icalendar-in-json]  Kewisch, P., Daboo, C., and
                                            M. Douglass, "jCal: The JSON
                                            format for iCalendar", draft
                                             draft-kewisch-et-al-
                                            icalendar-in-json-02.

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10.2.  Informative References

   [RFC4627]                                Crockford, D., "The
                                            application/json Media Type
                                            for JavaScript Object
                                            Notation (JSON)", RFC 4627,
                                            July 2006.

   [calconnect-artifacts]                   The Calendaring and
                                            Scheduling Consortium, "Code
                                            Artifacts and Schemas", <htt
                                            p://www.calconnect.org/
                                            artifacts.shtml>.

Appendix A.  ABNF Schema

   Below is an ABNF schema as per [RFC5234] for vCard in JSON.  ABNF
   Symbols not described here are taken from [RFC4627].  The schema is
   non-normative and given for reference only.

   The numeric section numbers given in the comments refer to section in
   [RFC6350].  Additional semantic restrictions apply, especially
   regarding the allowed properties and sub-components per component.
   Details on these restrictions can be found in this document and
   [RFC6350].

   Additional schemas may be available on the internet at
   [calconnect-artifacts].

   ; A vCard Stream is an array with the first element being the
   ; string "vcardstream". All remaining elements are jcardobjects.
   jcardstream = begin-array
                DQUOTE "vcardstream" DQUOTE
                *(value-separator jcardobject)
                end-array

   jcardobject = component

   ; A jCard object consists of the name string "vcard" and a properties
   ; array. Restrictions to which properties and may be specified are to
   ; be taken from RFC6350.
   jcardobject = begin-array
                 DQUOTE component-name DQUOTE value-separator
                 properties-array
                 end-array

   ; A jCard property consists of the name string, parameters object,
   ; type string and one or more values as specified in this document.

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   property = begin-array
              DQUOTE property-name DQUOTE value-separator
              params-object value-separator
              DQUOTE type-name DQUOTE
              propery-value *(value-separator property-value)
              end-array
   properties-array = begin-array
                      [ property *(value-separator property) ]
                      end-array

   ; Property values depend on the type-name. Aside from the value types
   ; mentioned here, extensions may make use of other JSON value types.
   property-value = string / number / boolean

   ; The jCard params-object is a JSON object which follows the semantic
   ; guidelines described in this document.
   params-object = begin-object
                   [ params-member *(value-separator params-member) ]
                   end-object
   params-member = DQUOTE param-name DQUOTE name-separator param-value
   param-value = string

   ; The type MUST be a valid type as described by this document. New
   ; value types can be added by extensions.
   type-name = "text" / "uri" / "date" / "time" / "date-time" /
               "boolean" / "integer" / "float" / "utc-offset" /
               "language-tag" / x-type

   ; Property, parameter and type names MUST be lowercase. Additional
   ; semantic restrictions apply as described by this document and
   ; RFC6350.
   component-name = lowercase-name
   property-name = lowercase-name
   param-name = lowercase-name
   x-type = lowercase-name
   lowercase-name = 1*(%x61-7A / DIGIT / "-")

Appendix B.  Examples

   This section contains an example of a vCard object with its jCard
   representation.

B.1.  Example: vCard of the author of RFC6350

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B.1.1.  vCard Data

   BEGIN:VCARD
   VERSION:4.0
   FN:Simon Perreault
   N:Perreault;Simon;;;ing. jr,M.Sc.
   BDAY:--0203
   ANNIVERSARY:20090808T1430-0500
   GENDER:M
   LANG;PREF=1:fr
   LANG;PREF=2:en
   ORG;TYPE=work:Viagenie
   ADR;TYPE=work:;Suite D2-630;2875 Laurier;
    Quebec;QC;G1V 2M2;Canada
   TEL;VALUE=uri;TYPE="work,voice";PREF=1:tel:+1-418-656-9254;ext=102
   TEL;VALUE=uri;TYPE="work,cell,voice,video,text":tel:+1-418-262-6501
   EMAIL;TYPE=work:simon.perreault@viagenie.ca
   GEO;TYPE=work:geo:46.772673,-71.282945
   KEY;TYPE=work;VALUE=uri:
    http://www.viagenie.ca/simon.perreault/simon.asc
   TZ:-0500
   URL;TYPE=home:http://nomis80.org
   END:VCARD

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B.1.2.  jCard Data

   ["vcard",
     [
       ["version", {}, "text", "4.0"],
       ["fn", {}, "text", "Simon Perreault"],
       ["n", {}, "text", "Perreault;Simon;;;ing. jr,M.Sc."],
       ["bday", {}, "date", "-02-03"],
       ["anniversary", {}, "date-time", "2009-08-08T14:30:00-0500"],
       ["gender", {}, "text", "M"],
       ["lang", { "pref": "1" }, "language-tag", "fr"],
       ["lang", { "pref": "2" }, "language-tag", "en"],
       ["org", { "type": "work" }, "text", "Viagenie"],
       ["adr",
          { "type": "work" },
          "text",
          ";Suite D2-630;2875 Laurier;Quebec;QC;G1V 2M2;Canada"
       ],
       ["tel",
         { "type": ["work", "voice"], "pref": "1" },
         "uri",
         "tel:+1-418-656-9254;ext=102"
       ],
       ["tel",
         { "type": ["work", "cell", "voice", "video", "text"] },
         "uri",
         "tel:+1-418-262-6501"
       ],
       ["email",
         { "type": "work" },
         "text",
         "simon.perreault@viagenie.ca"
       ],
       ["geo", { "type": "work" }, "uri", "geo:46.772673,-71.282945"],
       ["key",
         { "type": "work" },
         "uri",
         "http://www.viagenie.ca/simon.perreault/simon.asc"
       ],
       ["tz", {}, "utc-offset", "-05:00"],
       ["url", {}, "uri", "http://nomis80.org"]
     ]
   ]

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Appendix C.  Open Issues (to be removed prior to publication as an RFC)

   o  [RFC6350] doesn't define any kind of stream for multiple vcard
      elements.  For similarity with the jCal draft, I have added a
      "vcardstream".  Is this wanted and does the name fit?  (Maybe
      rather "jcardstream" ?)

   o  During conversion to jCard, I have dropped "date-and-or-time" and
      "timestamp" formats, since they can equally be represented by the
      formats "date", "time" and "date-time".  I have added guidelines
      to Section 6, but there may be some situations I am unaware of
      that make dropping these formats impossible.

   o  [draft-kewisch-et-al-icalendar-in-json] and [RFC5545] define the
      concept of sub-components. vCard on the other hand merely mentions
      the "BEGIN" and "END" properties, which have only one possible
      value "VCARD".  Should any preparations be done, in case an
      extension defines other possible values for the "BEGIN" and "END"
      properties, or should an extension to this document be defined
      when a such vCard extension emerges?

   o  I am not clear on support for using 60 as a value for seconds
      (i.e. leap seconds) in vCard.  This is defined quite clearly in
      [RFC5545].  Please double check this.

   o  This document needs some mention of the truncated date format.  As
      I don't have access to the original ISO 8601 documents, I would
      appreciate some advice on how to best handle this.

   o  This first draft doesn't yet incorporate all proposed changes
      discussed on the vcarddav and calsify mailing lists after
      publishing of draft-kewisch-et-al-icalendar-in-json-01.  Most
      notably, conversion of structured values into arrays or objects.
      This will be done in an upcoming draft and when an agreement is
      reached.

   o  This document defines in Section 3.3.1.2, that grouped properties
      are not to be handled differently than normal properties.  This
      was done for compatibility with the jCal draft to make it easier
      for a parser to support both jCal and jCard.  Another option would
      be to add a pseudo-property with the special type "group", the
      property name being the group name and the property value being an
      array of properties.  Downside is that there is room for an extra
      set of parameters in the group container that does not serialize
      back to vCard.

   o  There is some open discussion on the vcarddav and calsify lists
      about structured property and parameter values.  The origin of

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      this format comes from jCal, where structured values are very rare
      and processing the remaining ones requires a processing library
      anyway.  Therefore neither structured property values nor
      parameter values were added.  For jCard on the other hand,
      structured values appear quite often.  I have come up with three
      possible options for structured property values:

      1.  Use an array as the value, possibly with a null value for any
          empty structured property: foo;;bar becomes ["foo", null,
          "bar"]

      2.  Use an object for key-value combinations.  Downside is that
          the key may not always be known, and needs to be defined at
          least for standard properties. (i.e for N: "surnames",
          "given", "additional", "honor-prefix", "honor-suffix").
          Object values themselves could also be array values, i.e
          multiple honorific prefixes.  Upside is that it makes it very
          easy to access the values even without using a dedicated
          client library.

      3.  Keep the property value as an opaque text and leave any
          splitting to client libraries.  This makes it very simple to
          parse both iCalendar and vCard data into a similar format, but
          puts the burden of parsing the structured value on the client
          or client library.

      Also, there should be a mention of how multi-values inside a
      structured value should be handled.  With the second approach,
      these could themselves be an array, similar to how this document
      currently defines multi-value parameters.

Appendix D.  Change History (to be removed prior to publication as an
             RFC)

Author's Address

   Philipp Kewisch
   Mozilla Corporation
   650 Castro Street, Suite 300
   Mountain View, CA  94041
   USA

   EMail: mozilla@kewis.ch
   URI:   http://www.mozilla.org/

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