I’ve seen many ‘invite friends’ features that ask for Google account info to grab email addresses and send invites. I’m curious how to do this in C# with ASP.NET.
Is there a way to programmatically access and download Gmail contacts if I have the login details? I’m not looking to spam anyone, just want to understand the process for a personal project.
Some questions I have:
What APIs or libraries might be useful?
Are there any security concerns to be aware of?
Is OAuth a better approach than asking for passwords?
If anyone has experience with this, I’d really appreciate some guidance or code examples. Thanks!
I’ve worked on a similar project before, and I’d strongly recommend using Google’s official APIs for this. Specifically, the Google People API is designed for accessing contacts. It’s much safer and more reliable than trying to scrape or directly access Gmail.
For implementation, you’ll want to use OAuth 2.0 for authentication. This is definitely preferable to handling passwords directly. You’ll need to register your app with Google to get API credentials.
In terms of C# libraries, Google.Apis.PeopleService.v1 is a good choice. It simplifies the OAuth flow and API calls.
Security-wise, make sure you’re only requesting the minimum necessary scopes. Also, be very clear to users about what data you’re accessing and how it will be used. Following Google’s usage guidelines is crucial to avoid any issues with your app’s access.
As someone who’s implemented this kind of feature before, I can tell you it’s not as straightforward as it might seem. The Google People API is indeed the way to go, but be prepared for a bit of a learning curve.
One thing to keep in mind is rate limiting. Google puts restrictions on how many requests you can make in a given timeframe, so you’ll need to build in some error handling and potentially implement a queue system if you’re dealing with a lot of users.
Also, make sure you’re very clear about data usage in your privacy policy. Users are understandably wary about granting access to their contacts, so transparency is key.
In terms of implementation, I found it helpful to create a separate service layer to handle all the Google API interactions. This keeps your main application code clean and makes it easier to swap out or update the contact retrieval logic if needed.
Lastly, don’t forget about testing. Mock the API responses in your unit tests to ensure your code handles various scenarios correctly. Good luck with your project!
hey laura, i’ve done this before. def use the Google People API, it’s way easier than tryin to hack somethin together. OAuth is the way to go - don’t mess with passwords.
make sure u tell users exactly what ur doing with their data tho. google’s pretty strict bout that stuff.