Import Ward Directory into OS X Address Book (and iPhone)

[RossEvans]

Can anyone report experience with importing any of the MLS export files, either CSV or vCard formats, into an iPhone?

We just sustained a new bishop today, and he is an iPhone user. We are wondering what his best options are.

[mkmurray]

Can anyone report experience with importing any of the MLS export files, either CSV or vCard formats, into an iPhone?

We just sustained a new bishop today, and he is an iPhone user. We are wondering what his best options are.

Definitely easier than through Outlook, I can say that. Address Book is the most forgiving and flexible I have seen of any option of importing (at least for vCards).

Follow my link before your post and you might find some helpful info.

[RossEvans]

Definitely easier than through Outlook, I can say that. Address Book is the most forgiving and flexible I have seen of any option of importing (at least for vCards).
.

I'm not getting it at a very basic level. Mostly because I am iPhone-ignorant. (Also, we are interested in MLS exports, not LUWS exports.)

Is Address Book an iPhone app that will import the "MLS Families vCard.vcf" file directly? Does the user have to load a Mac first and then sinc the iPhone with the Mac?

[mkmurray]

I'm not getting it at a very basic level. Mostly because I am iPhone-ignorant. (Also, we are interested in MLS exports, not LUWS exports.)

Is Address Book an iPhone app that will import the "MLS Families vCard.vcf" file directly? Does the user have to load a Mac first and then sinc the iPhone with the Mac?

No, no, no, no....

So the iPhone syncs with iTunes, no matter Mac or PC. From there you can tell iTunes you want your contacts to be synced with a number of programs (among which are Outlook, Windows Contacts, Gmail, Address Book (built right into OS X), etc). It is one of these programs (or operating system features) that you import the contacts into. Regular iPhone syncing will do the rest.

As for your "MLS, not LUWS" comment, that's fine. I'm not quite sure you got all of what I said in my thread, but I agree there is a lot in there you didn't need to know. The jist of it is that I am trying to hook up photos with vCard exports (first LUWS, then MLS). The only reason I mentioned my thread is that I figured there would be little clues and gems you could pick up from my quest for photos attributed to households. There have been quite a few potholes in the road and I discuss possible ways to fix them (or if I haven't found a fix yet).

Let me know if you need further assistance. Good luck.

[pete_arnett-p40]

FYI

iSilo has a reader for the iPhone (available on the iTune App Store)
http://www.isilo.com/iPhone/iSilo/

iPhone can use WardInfo (free) a software package that formats MLS data for use with iPhone, Pocket PC, smartphones and desktops
http://hcgl.eng.ohio-state.edu/~mills/W ... dInfo.html

and Church Publications for Handhelds for iSilo—Pocket PC
http://www.lds.org/handheld/newarchive/ ... -2,00.html

also, you can read almost any iSilo produced publications and documents
general, law, medical and religion (CS Lewis)

Note: I have used WardInfo for years and appreciate the hard work that Brother Doug Mills has put into making WardInfo a very usable application

[pete_arnett-p40]

FYI

iSilo has a reader for the iPhone (available on the iTune App Store)
http://www.isilo.com/iPhone/iSilo/

The iSilo reader for iPhone has been updated to version 1.3.1 which fixes a password issue. Users of smartphones devices should use a device password and to also use an iSilo password to protect MLS membership data. The password security is available when using WardInfo, a free software package that formats membership MLS data (Ward or Stake) for use with iSilo reader on shartphones and desktops (etc.) http://hcgl.eng.ohio-state.edu/~mill.../WardInfo.html

Also the following review gives a good overview of the iSilo tool:
Review: iSilo v1.30 for iPhone
By Chris Meadows
http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/11/08 ... or-iphone/

Which points out that PDF, Word, RTF, unaltered HTML, as well as JPEG and other image formats can be used with iSilo for iPhone

[gddrew-p40]

I'm actually struggling with this myself. I am the ward mission leader in my ward and I have an Access database that I use to keep track of investigators, lessons taught, etc. One of the tables is the membership table, and I imported that by downloading the CSV file from the ward website on LDS.org. However, I find that I have to do a considerable amount of cleanup of the file in order to import it into my database. I've just taken a look at the Vcard file and was able to succesfully import it into the Palm Desktop software, then re-export it as a txt file. However, there is still some cleanup that has to happen. My goal is to make the database available for free to others who would like it; with that in mind, I want to be able to provide a way to given them a clean file from the church website for importing into the Membership table of the db.

I use the Church website for the data rather than MLS because I don't have access to MLS and it's unlikely most other users would, either. I'm hoping somebody has a solution so that I don't have to re-invent the wheel. My programming skills are limited.

If the CSV file were at least consistently delimited for each record, that would go a long way towards making it a clean file for import.

Thanks,
Greg

[Mdgooden-p40]

There are two iphone applications that allow you to view ward or stake information, including leadership and membership. The stake app is istake($7.99) and the ward app(3.99) is iward. These apps sync with the membership records, therefore you need to have an lds account (confirmation date and membership number) to be able to receive the information and updates.