v3: Editing name or address in web UI deletes structured info

[Charlie Wood]

It looks like the Google Contacts web UI (both in Gmail and Google
Apps) destroys the structured name information when the user edits a
contact's name and the structured address information when the user
edits the contact's address.

From the migration guide (http://is.gd/VqhM) I had assumed that Google
would apply some heuristics to the edited unstructured name/address to
populate the structured fields.

Is this a bug or a feature? ;-)

Here's how to reproduce the problematic behavior:

* Create a contact using the Contact Data API v3 and include a
structured name, like:
<gd:name>
<gd:namePrefix>Dr.</gd:namePrefix>
<gd:givenName>Eric</gd:givenName>
<gd:additionalName>Emerson</gd:additionalName>
<gd:familyName>Schmidt</gd:familyName>
<gd:nameSuffix>Ph.D.</gd:nameSuffix>
</gd:name>
* Fetch the contacts feed using the API, verify that the structured
data is there, including a generated <gd:fullName />
* Edit the contact in the Google Contacts web UI (e.g., change
"Emerson" to "E.")
* Fetch the contacts feed using the API, verify that the structured
data is gone, leaving only the <gd:fullName />

I get similar results when editing postal addresses. Please let me
know if you need any more info.

Thanks,
Charlie

[bartjo!]

I can't imagine that Google will not update the Contacts UI soon to
match the behavior of the API.

[Tomek]

We're aware that the Contacts UI behavior is suboptimal, and we're
working on improving it.

Tomek

[Charlie Wood]

Tomek-

So is the behavior I described a known issue? If so, it sounds like
API clients that need structured data will still have to a heuristic-
based parsing after the user edits contacts using the Contacts UI. Is
that right?

Thanks,
Charlie

[Charlie Wood]

FWIW, we've done some testing this morning with various apps and
devices that talk to Google Contacts and have seen some interesting
behavior:

* Google Contacts web UI
- destroys all structured data when the field is edited

* Android (v1.5 running on a Google Ion)
- edited name gets parsed, but poorly (namePrefix and nameSuffix
not populated, givenName get first word, additionalName gets second
word, familyName gets everything else)

* iPhone (via the Exchange ActiveSync interface)
- works very well--structured fields supported

* Google Apps Sync for Outlook
- works very well---edited full name correctly parsed

We look forward to an updated Google Contacts web UI and better
structured name support from Android!

Thanks,
Charlie