# Communications UI – From/To and Facebook Accounts **URL:** \ **Category:** Autopsy Development\ **Created:** [June 17, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/t/communications-ui-from-to-and-facebook-accounts/1961 "2020-06-17T14:43:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ricardoapl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@ricardoapl](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/u/ricardoapl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/t/communications-ui-from-to-and-facebook-accounts/1961/1 "2020-06-17T14:43:23Z")
Hi I am currently developing a data source-level ingest module to extract the most significant artifacts produced by the usage of the Windows Store application Facebook Messenger (Beta). However, I am having some trouble integrating with the Communications UI. **Environment:** Windows 10 Autopsy 4.14.0 **Expected behavior:** Looking up the proprieties of any message within the Communications UI, I would expect to see something resembling the following screen capture: ![discourse-00](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/sleuthkit/original/2X/a/a34d588004950f37ec516e1b147199b406f7b9a9.jpeg) **Actual behavior:** Facebook account identifiers are phone numbers instead of account identifiers, and there is a duplicate propriety “ThreadID” with value “”. ![discourse-02](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/sleuthkit/original/2X/a/a45d368e059a33dbbc7b351e3f9fd6c4ba5a2191.jpeg) **Steps to reproduce the behavior:** 1. Create a CommunicationArtifactsHelper with account types Account.Type.FACEBOOK 2. Create a TSK\_MESSAGE artifact along any account instances and relationships by calling CommunicationArtifactsHelper.addMessage() I have also tried to create the accounts, artifacts, and relationships (i.e. messages) separately but still had no success; in such cases the proprieties “From” and “To” show up empty. **Questions:** Am I following the correct procedures? I so, is this behavior intended? If not, should I open a GitHub issue? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![apriestman](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/sleuthkit.discourse.group/apriestman/32/24_2.png) [@apriestman](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/u/apriestman)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/t/communications-ui-from-to-and-facebook-accounts/1961/2 "2020-06-17T14:48:01Z")
Can you compare what you’re doing with the code here and see if there’s any obvious differences? > ---
**Author:** ![ricardoapl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@ricardoapl](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/u/ricardoapl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/t/communications-ui-from-to-and-facebook-accounts/1961/3 "2020-06-18T14:30:15Z")
Thanks **apriestman** but I have found no noticeable differences. Since there are no built-in attribute types TSK\_USER\_ID\_FROM and TSK\_USER\_ID\_TO, I would assume that the only attributes to be considered for the “From” and “To” proprieties of any message at the Communications UI would be one of the following: {TSK\_PHONE\_NUMBER\_FROM, TSK\_PHONE\_NUMBER\_TO} {TSK\_EMAIL\_FROM, TSK\_EMAIL\_TO} Which would explain why any message created through CommunicationArtifactsHelper.addMessage() has those attributes, i.e., TSK\_PHONE\_NUMBER\_FROM and TSK\_PHONE\_NUMBER\_TO. I also planned on running the module you shared, just to make sure that what I am asking for is possible. However, I had no success in the search for any Facebook Messenger databases on my smartphone. Meanwhile, I also noticed that the “Source File” propriety of any message seen through the Communications UI has value “Message”. When that same message is double-clicked, it displays an error saying “Failed to locate directory.”; this does not happen when seeing the message through the Result Content Viewer. ![discourse-nosourcefile](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/sleuthkit/original/2X/e/e4d2ed47ced1477717c74acf6662f9f35ab6c0f2.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![raman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@raman](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/u/raman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/t/communications-ui-from-to-and-facebook-accounts/1961/4 "2020-06-18T17:05:50Z")
Hi At this time, we use the attributes TSK\_PHONE\_NUMBER\_TO/TSK\_PHONE\_NUMBER\_FROM to specify the Sender/Receivers of any type of messages. That’s why you see them as “From Phone number” & “To Phone Number” in the properties, instead of “From User Id” and “To User Id” We have a story to change that in the future. Let me look into the blank “ThreadID” property. I will get back to you on that. ---
**Author:** ![ricardoapl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/48db29/32.png) [@ricardoapl](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/u/ricardoapl)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://sleuthkit.discourse.group/t/communications-ui-from-to-and-facebook-accounts/1961/5 "2020-06-19T18:33:49Z")
Thanks **raman** The blank “ThreadID” is not much of a problem to me given that there exists another property “Thread ID” with the correct value and the messages are grouped correctly.