Perform batch operations

Batch requests allow the server to perform multiple operations with a single HTTP request, which can improve application responsiveness. To perform a batch operation, create a contacts feed and add an entry for each operation.

Batch requests are limited to 100 operations. For more information, see Batch Processing in the Google Data Protocol. Changes can take up to 24 hours to reflect in auto-complete and the contact manager.

The following code sample shows a batch request that creates 2 shared contacts. Batch requests can also query, update, and delete contacts. Update and delete entries require an edit link for optimistic concurrency.

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'
      xmlns:gContact='http://schemas.google.com/contact/2008'
      xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005'
      xmlns:batch='http://schemas.google.com/gdata/batch'>
  <category scheme='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#kind'
      term='http://schemas.google.com/g/2008#contact' />
  <entry>
    <batch:id>1</batch:id>
    <batch:operation type='insert' />
    <category scheme='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#kind'
      term='http://schemas.google.com/g/2008#contact'/>
    <gd:name>
      <gd:givenName>FIRST_NAME</gd:fullName>
      <gd:familyName>LAST_NAME</gd:fullName>
    </gd:name>
    <gd:email rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#home'
      address='EMAIL_ADDRESS' primary='true'/>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <batch:id>2</batch:id>
    <batch:operation type='insert' />
    <category scheme='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#kind'
      term='http://schemas.google.com/g/2008#contact'/>
    <gd:name>
      <gd:givenName>FIRST_NAME</gd:fullName>
      <gd:familyName>LAST_NAME</gd:fullName>
    </gd:name>
    <gd:email rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#home'
      address='EMAIL_ADDRESS'
      primary='true'/>
  </entry>
</feed>

Replace the following:

  • FIRST_NAME: First name of the contact.
  • LAST_NAME: Last name of the contact.
  • EMAIL_ADDRESS: Preferred email address.