How do I use AppleScript to export Address Book contacts?

Question

Here's what I want to do. I want to execute a series of AppleScript commands which will automatically export every contact I have in my Address Book to a vCards.vcf file (which will be in my Dropbox folder). The reason I want to do this is so I don't have to remember to manually export the contacts every time I change one.
What are the AppleScript commands I need to run?

Answer 1

quick&dirty, but it works 8-)
-- hubionmac.com 06.02.2011
-- quick&dirty script for exporting contacts as single vCards
--exisiting vCards will not be overwritten by the script, instead new files will 
--get an index like "John Smith 1.vcf"
set doThese to getitem_2process(true)
tell application "Address Book"
set destination_path to choose folder with prompt "Destination folder for export:"
repeat with doThis in doThese
if first name of doThis is missing value then
set firstname to ""
else
set firstname to first name of doThis
end if
if last name of doThis is missing value then
set lastname to ""
else
set lastname to last name of doThis
end if
if (lastname & firstname) as text = "" then
set namestring to "nobody.vcf"
else
set namestring to (first name of doThis & " " & last name of doThis & ".vcf") as text
end if
set namestring to my checknamewith_pdfsuffix(namestring, destination_path, false)
my writeToFile((destination_path as text) & namestring as text, (get vcard of doThis), false)
end repeat
my display_message(((count of doThese) & " contact(s) exported") as text, 3)
end tell
on writeToFile(MacFilePathTxt, txt, add2eof)
--lastedit 18.01.2011
if add2eof is false then
try
do shell script "rm " & quoted form of POSIX path of (MacFilePathTxt as alias)
end try
end if
set RefNum to (open for access file MacFilePathTxt with write permission)
try
if add2eof is false then
write txt to RefNum
else
write txt to RefNum starting at ((get eof RefNum) + 1)
end if
close access RefNum
return true
on error
close access RefNum
return false
end try
end writeToFile
to getitem_2process(askwhat)
try
tell application "Address Book"
activate
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "0" using command down --show address-window not matter what...
end tell
if askwhat is true then
set theaction to button returned of (display dialog "Process all or just selection?" buttons {"All", "Selection", "cancel"} default button {"Selection"})
if theaction = "Selection" then
set a to every person whose selected is true
else
set a to people
end if
else
set a to people
end if
end tell
on error msg
error "error on getitem_2process" & return & msg
end try
end getitem_2process
to checknamewith_pdfsuffix(n, D, looped)
--check if filename exists in D
-- so if "A File.pdf" exists it names it "A File 1.pdf","A File 2.pdf",...
tell application "Finder"
set thefiles to name of every item of (D as alias)
end tell
if thefiles contains n then
if looped = false then
set n to ((characters 1 through -5 of n) & " 1" & (characters -4 through -1 of n)) as text
my checknamewith_pdfsuffix(n, D, true)
else
set tmp to (last word of ((characters 1 through -5 of n) as text) as integer)
set tmpcount to (count of characters of (tmp as text)) + 5
set tmp to tmp + 1
set n to ((characters 1 through (-1 * tmpcount) of n) & tmp & (characters -4 through -1 of n)) as text
my checknamewith_pdfsuffix(n, D, true)
end if
else
return n
end if
end checknamewith_pdfsuffix
on display_message(msgTXT, msgTimeout)
tell application "System Events"
set isRunning to ¬
(count of (every process whose name is "GrowlHelperApp")) > 0
end tell
if isRunning = true then
tell application "GrowlHelperApp"
-- Make a list of all the notification types 
-- that this script will ever send:
set the allNotificationsList to ¬
{"Status"}
-- Make a list of the notifications 
-- that will be enabled by default.      
-- Those not enabled by default can be enabled later 
-- in the 'Applications' tab of the growl prefpane.
set the enabledNotificationsList to ¬
{"Status"}
-- Register our script with growl.
-- You can optionally (as here) set a default icon 
-- for this script's notifications.
register as application ¬
"Address Book" all notifications allNotificationsList ¬
default notifications enabledNotificationsList ¬
icon of application "Address Book"
--Send a Notification...
notify with name ¬
"Status" title ¬
"Status" description ¬
msgTXT application name ¬
"Address Book"
return true
end tell
else
activate
display dialog msgTXT giving up after msgTimeout
end if
end display_message