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Programmatically Process Shared Link Folders and Sub-Folders and Their Contents
Well I'm still at a loss.
I have the shared link to a folder that I need to check on a daily schedule to see if there's new files. The logic of which is all fine, but I just can't access anything below the initial shared link programatically.
Really all I need to get is the URL for any subfolder ... but I'll be damned if there's an API call that will supply that information.
- I have tried with the API token provided by the DB Dev Docs (auto).
- I have tried with my own token in place of that (to make the API call come from my account).
- I have tried all of the following and none can penetrate the barrier that is the second level of folders:
- get_shared_link_metadata
- get_folder_metadata
- list_received_files
- list_folder
- list_folders
I have access to the shared link, I have access to all the (3) subfolders.
One thing I note is that the URL changes once I enter the subfolder of the main shared link, and I'm unable to programattically
get that to just launch either a new get_shared_link_metadata on the new URL, or list_folder to get its contents. So if we had a primary shared link of:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aaa/bbb/
Let's say that has a subfolder called "john", I can't resolve that via the API because the URL to the john folder is not:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aaa/bbb/john
The link, instead, is:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aaa/ccc/john
A quick breakdown of how I would desire this to work:
Stage 1:
get_shared_link_metadata ---> list_folder
This works, and provides me with the contents of the shared folder, and the names and IDs of the subfolders.
Stage 2:
UNKNOWN ---> list_folder
This is the repeated stage (for each of the 3 subfolders), the UNKNOWN represents what I don't know, that should essentially be the equivalent of the get_shared_link_metadata ... except I don't have the right link for the subfolders, because they are changed each time.
16 Replies
- Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff
To list the contents of a folder nested inside a folder, where you only have the shared link for that top folder, you can use /2/files/list_folder again with the original top-level shared link, but then specify the relative path of the nested folder (e.g. built from the returned 'name' fields), in the "path" parameter.
Here's a real example I just ran to illustrate this:
curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder \ --header "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \ --header "Content-Type: application/json" \ --data "{\"shared_link\": {\"url\": \"https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tpgtd066g1umb13/AACPWhKNrRujRZHM3p7vXP1Qa?dl=0\"}, \"path\": \"\"}" # { # "entries": [ # { # ".tag": "folder", # "name": "another folder", # "path_lower": "/public/another folder", # "path_display": "/Public/another folder", # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAFw", # "sharing_info": { # "read_only": false, # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "traverse_only": false, # "no_access": false # } # }, # { # ".tag": "folder", # "name": "some folder", # "path_lower": "/public/some folder", # "path_display": "/Public/some folder", # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAGw", # "sharing_info": { # "read_only": false, # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "traverse_only": false, # "no_access": false # } # }, # { # ".tag": "folder", # "name": "one more folder", # "path_lower": "/public/one more folder", # "path_display": "/Public/one more folder", # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAHA", # "sharing_info": { # "read_only": false, # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "traverse_only": false, # "no_access": false # } # }, # { # ".tag": "file", # "name": "Getting Started.pdf", # "path_lower": "/public/getting started.pdf", # "path_display": "/Public/Getting Started.pdf", # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAAKbwQ", # "client_modified": "2015-01-30T22:53:09Z", # "server_modified": "2018-02-16T18:05:53Z", # "rev": "191ee4bb0", # "size": 249159, # "sharing_info": { # "read_only": false, # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "modified_by": "dbid:AABL4QRrY7tB9viLgPUqmjkzE6Fe5ujlnlE" # }, # "is_downloadable": true, # "content_hash": "c3dfdd86981548e48bc8efb6c4162c76ba961ec92e60f6ba26189068a41fcaf2" # }, # { # ".tag": "file", # "name": "hello.txt", # "path_lower": "/public/hello.txt", # "path_display": "/Public/hello.txt", # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAAAZYA", # "client_modified": "2014-07-02T01:28:43Z", # "server_modified": "2018-02-16T18:05:53Z", # "rev": "291ee4bb0", # "size": 14, # "sharing_info": { # "read_only": false, # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "modified_by": "dbid:AABL4QRrY7tB9viLgPUqmjkzE6Fe5ujlnlE" # }, # "is_downloadable": true, # "content_hash": "82674cafa4320daa280b666af141db2b5bd7db4dff3b69dd91a6caea9e30dafb" # } # ], # "cursor": "AAE77A9T4tcyL7eoj_qL_4C735arjRfDRL8yg-yBRm0LxVYkGlPWtyoihPXig3uKLM8EUBmtUHXDMMnqSzkkbCAeqy3e3IeX2M1rV2NtNKobfmPVVMbK1LiOyn9jI9AsDnF8HHkbgGnlgUw4CvJ1Y1q2pJU-UMzy7qR6K8nYhe2vAcuTfBJmSFgCny3YXlutGJZFubiv9n0-Xmr-i7f5ctcSDUqfw1_sw4mGGmHGIyo3lP_1XJRD9DOOW7WZTYt2Uwr3sVjluPJmO93MUMlu6zEs3pB7xVVTNKk4J24IdcSH2A", # "has_more": false # } curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder \ --header "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \ --header "Content-Type: application/json" \ --data "{\"shared_link\": {\"url\": \"https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tpgtd066g1umb13/AACPWhKNrRujRZHM3p7vXP1Qa?dl=0\"}, \"path\": \"/another folder\"}" # { # "entries": [ # { # ".tag": "file", # "name": "test.png", # "path_lower": "/public/another folder/test.png", # "path_display": "/Public/another folder/test.png", # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAIA", # "client_modified": "2020-06-23T15:46:34Z", # "server_modified": "2020-06-23T15:46:35Z", # "rev": "5a8c2439cb67d91ee4bb0", # "size": 1427, # "sharing_info": { # "read_only": false, # "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264", # "modified_by": "dbid:AABL4QRrY7tB9viLgPUqmjkzE6Fe5ujlnlE" # }, # "is_downloadable": true, # "content_hash": "3c6f88e464f1389ab9fc1a0c28c335e357bc61cf76e10e7bf3f146795e64e9f7" # } # ], # "cursor": "AAFWX5jkg5A6CEUiSOA_lCsuVVHlv2yCFtEkrE9CE4gKFmM3XFjUKL2znkL8V9104ofmyRBuSTIcjl1OOMy6_iuI21csGMIwqapxis_E0azOD7ZMDJQ0tJjMJ39sZ9i-WitNwuu0TDgzJn0UjDr7b9ZFktktVvK9VM5zB3W-3as0YaLmPpb8-4MovsdSiaQ12CSBRClnNVXSOa1T6SSOy3ktqn3SxFyr_fbXlzoevO2RiKthJHgdcFg7BGe89LN4_UKvpPFVGLZFdk6ZX6txXe3fW4Nuvq6k8a0HjLYSJt_yz_417KcLw8-a9sa97OxUYHXjqiDfkKWztFzEX4mWGpky", # "has_more": false # }Hope this helps, or let me know if I've misunderstood your use case!
Hi, Greg, thanks for that, but as stated, it doesn't work, because the URL for the subfolder is not the same as that of the main folder.
I'll try again, though.
Thanks for splitting this out, though. Since it has been split, then, could we change the title, perhaps, please? (I'll try, too)
Perhaps:
Programmatically Process Shared Link Folders and Sub-Folders and Their Contents
- Greg-DB
Thanks for following up. I see you did successfully rename the thread.
Anyway, I understand that the shared link, e.g., as seen in the browser, is not the same for the subfolder as the main folder, but to call /2/files/list_folder for a subfolder, you don't actually need the shared link for the subfolder in particular. You just need the combination of the shared link for the main folder, and the relative path of the subfolder.
Check out the two API calls in the sample I posted. The first lists the contents of the main folder using its shared link, and the second list contents of a subfolder using that same main folder shared link, plus the relative path, constructed from the information in the first response.
If I understand correctly, that satisfies your use case here, but please elaborate if not. Thanks!
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