How to use global variables in event handlers - google-apps-script

Question

I have a global variable contacts,
var contacts = ContactsApp.getContacts();
I have an KeyUphandler for my textbox called search().
In search(),
contacts[0].getPrimaryEmail() gives out an error, "Cant call method getPrimaryEmail of undefined"
However contacts[0].getPrimaryEmail() works fine in other normal functions.
Cant we use global variables in event handlers?
The code is given below,
//CODE starts
var contacts = ContactsApp.getContacts();
function ShowAuto() {
var app = UiApp.createApplication().setTitle('Simple Autocomplete');
var Panel = app.createVerticalPanel().setId('mainPanel').setWidth('555px');
var textBox = app.createTextBox().setName('textBox').setWidth('330px').setId('textBox');
var tBoxHandler = app.createServerKeyHandler('search');
tBoxHandler.addCallbackElement(textBox);
textBox.addKeyUpHandler(tBoxHandler);
var listBox = app.createListBox().setName('list').setWidth("330px").setId('list').setVisibleItemCount(5)
.setStyleAttribute("border", "1px solid white")
.setStyleAttribute("background", "white").setVisible(false);
Panel.add(app.createLabel().setId('label'));
Panel.add(textBox);
Panel.add(listBox);
app.add(Panel);
var ownerEmail = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail();
// I used this method first.. It din work.
// var contacts = ContactsApp.getContacts();
// for (var i in contacts)
// {
// var emailStr = contacts[i].getPrimaryEmail();
// conts[i]=emailStr;
// Browser.msgBox(emailStr);
// }
//These two calls are just to test, the contacts Array, They work fine :)
getContact(0);
getContact(1);
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
ss.show(app);
}
function getContact(n)
{
// Browser.msgBox(contacts[n].getPrimaryEmail());
Logger.log(contacts[n].getPrimaryEmail()); //works fine
return contacts[n].getPrimaryEmail();
}
function search(e)
{
var app = UiApp.getActiveApplication();
//Logger.log(contacts[0].getPrimaryEmail()); //Not working
app.getElementById('label').setText(e.parameter.textBox.toString());
// app.getElementById('label').setText(conts[0]);
app.getElementById('list').setVisible(true);
var searchKey = new RegExp(e.parameter.textBox.toString(),"gi");
if (searchKey == "")
app.getElementById('textBox').setValue('');
var listBoxCount = 0;
for (i=0;i<5;i++){
//Here is where i get error
if(contacts[i].indexOf(e.parameter.textBox)!=-1 && listBoxCount < 5)
{
app.getElementById('list').addItem(conts[i]);
listBoxCount++;
}
}
}
Sorry if i was unclear

Answer 1

Well, I have used UserProperties.setProperty and getProperty function to avoid the use of global variables.
Whenever a server handler is invoked, the global variables will be recalculated as given in https://developers.google.com/apps-script/class_serverhandler, so mine was not working properly.
Thanks for the support guys :)