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Qrab
2 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Changing many file access rights with api
Hello,
I'm looking to move a large amount of folders from directory A to directory B. For this I use fileCopyV2 with a little delay between each move to avoid too_many_request and everything works ...
iNeil
Dropbox Engineer
2 years agoQrab, If there are multiple changes at the same time in the same account or shared folder, you can run in to this 'too_many_write_operations' error, which is "lock contention". That's not explicit rate limiting, but rather a result of how Dropbox works on the back-end. This is a technical inability to make a modification in the account or shared folder at the time of the API call.
This applies to all account types. This error indicates that there was simultaneous activity in the account or shared/team folder preventing your app from making the state-modifying call (e.g., adding, editing, moving, copying, sharing, or deleting files/folders) it is attempting. The simultaneous activity could be coming from your app itself, or elsewhere, e.g., from the user's desktop client. It can come from the same user, or another member of a shared folder. You can find more information about lock contention and optimizations you can make here. The app will need to be written to automatically handle this error.
In short, to avoid this error, you should avoid making multiple concurrent state modifications and use batch endpoints where possible. That won't guarantee that you won't run in to this error though, as contention can still come from other sources, so you should also implement error handling and automatic retrying as needed. I recommend referring to the error documentation and Error Handling Guide for more information.
Based on the information you have provided, you are using the filesCopyV2 method to copy individual files and folders. An alternative approach would be using the filesCopyBatchV2 method instead. This will allow you to copy multiple files or folders to different locations at once in the user's Dropbox. While using the filesCopyBatchV2 method, you can cross-check if it's completed by using the filesCopyBatchCheckV2 method.
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