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Forum Discussion
outsidecoder
8 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Automatically Deleting Files After X Days - General Data Protection Regulation May 2018
Hi there, I'm using the Java SDK 3x (API v2) and I'm looking for pointers/code to automatically delete files that are X number of days old. There is post on this forum which is doing this in python...
outsidecoder
8 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Things are not looking good for business users in Europe. We should be able tell when a folder was modified* for GDPR.
https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/API-support/Get-the-modified-date-for-a-folder-or-file/m-p/184489/highlight/true#M7748
*Ideally it should be the creation date, however that is probably a grey area for lawyers to argue over.
https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/API-support/Get-the-modified-date-for-a-folder-or-file/m-p/184489/highlight/true#M7748
*Ideally it should be the creation date, however that is probably a grey area for lawyers to argue over.
- outsidecoder8 years agoHelpful | Level 5
So created a quick bit of code to delete files older than X days but its very rough and hasn't been tested properly. It doesn't get round the issue of dates of folders, nor does it get round the issue of not knowing the creation date. Comments welcomed as there must be a better way than this?
enum MODIFIED_DATE_TYPE { SERVER_MODIFIED_DATE, CLIENT_MODIFIED_DATE; } private long deleteFilesOlderThanXDays(long numDays, MODIFIED_DATE_TYPE TYPE) throws DbxException { //ALPHA - add protection against going above long.MAXIMUM long numberFilesDeleted = 0; ListFolderBuilder listFolderBuilder = client.files().listFolderBuilder(""); ListFolderResult result = listFolderBuilder.withRecursive(true).start(); while (!result.getHasMore()) { if (result != null) { for (Metadata entry : result.getEntries()) { // System.out.println("Analysing: " + entry.getPathLower()); if (entry instanceof FileMetadata) { Date dateOfFile; switch (TYPE) { case CLIENT_MODIFIED_DATE: dateOfFile = ((FileMetadata) entry).getServerModified(); break; case SERVER_MODIFIED_DATE: dateOfFile = ((FileMetadata) entry).getClientModified(); break; default: throw new AssertionError(); } //Check to see if the current file is too old if (getDaysBetween(new Date(), dateOfFile) > numDays) { this.deleteFile(entry.getPathLower()); numberFilesDeleted++; } } } if (!result.getHasMore()) { return numberFilesDeleted; } try { result = client.files().listFolderContinue(result.getCursor()); } catch (DbxException e) { //ALPHA - TIDY UP HERE. CATCHING or THROWING??? - GDPR - Note what you're logging // log.info("Could NOT get listFolderContinue"); } } } return numberFilesDeleted; }
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