--- a/src/browser/sat_browser/contact.py	Thu Aug 21 16:18:51 2014 +0200
+++ b/src/browser/sat_browser/contact.py	Thu Aug 21 16:44:39 2014 +0200
@@ -39,7 +39,18 @@
 import html_tools
 
 
-def setPresenceStyle(widget, presence, base_style="contactLabel"):
+def buildPresenceStyle(presence, base_style=None):
+    """Return the CSS classname to be used for displaying the given presence information.
+    @param presence (str): presence is a value in ('', 'chat', 'away', 'dnd', 'xa')
+    @param base_style (str): base classname
+    @return: str
+    """
+    if not base_style:
+        base_style = "contactLabel"
+    return '%s-%s' % (base_style, presence or 'connected')
+
+
+def setPresenceStyle(widget, presence, base_style=None):
     """
     Set the CSS style of a contact's element according to its presence.
 
@@ -49,7 +60,7 @@
     """
     if not hasattr(widget, 'presence_style'):
         widget.presence_style = None
-    style = '%s-%s' % (base_style, presence or 'connected')
+    style = buildPresenceStyle(presence, base_style)
     if style == widget.presence_style:
         return
     if widget.presence_style is not None: