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Simple Web App for getting info about a Dropbox Folder Content or File but Authorisation says NO??
Hey there all!
I am quite new to all this. However I have working on a Webflow site that uses xano for the database and wized to run API calls and javascript functionality.
I am on a Business Plus Account
So I was very excited that I could use API calls such as 2/files/list_folder to get a list of content within a directory. I was generating the token and found it strange that I had to keep renewing it but after a quick search I did see you could resolve this.
However now I am actually to implement this and its very difficult for starters but looks its made to prevent my use case since it requires the user to authenticate itself through Dropbox website.
Now as mentioned this is a team space and this is an internal web app. I would ideally like to have the authorisation done in the backend. Not pushing the user to authenticate themselves to see the contents of the files through my web app.
I am happy to use any method that would enable this. I did see something about 'offline' access but I dont fully understand this. Could anyone please point me towards the right direction?
Kind regards
Hi eni8ma,
Yes, it's possible to pre-generate needed data (primarily refresh token) and latter use it. Keep in mind that you have to avoid credentials exposing (either access or refresh token) while your application works (that would be security issue). Take care with that part of design! Example of refresh token generation by yourself may be seen here. Once you have it, you can initialize one of Dropbox SDKs of your choice and proceed further without further user interaction. Also, you can perform API calls on your own (without official SDK), but you should take care to refresh access token as described (all SDKs do this internally) - the choice is yours. 😉
Hope this clarifies matter.
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eni8ma, don't mess different authentication types!
If you need to manage public data (like shared link and files etc) then basic authentication is enough. If you need to manage account specific data, you need bearer authentication!
Note: Basic authentication authenticates your application only, while bearer - authenticates the user. So you CANNOT do anything user related (including any file/folder direct access) without bearer authentication.
Hope it's a bit more clear now.
Ok so I think I understand this
Bear Authentication to access user specific folders (which I don't need to)
App Authentication to access team spaces. (which I do want to access)
So in my workspace I have a team space folder which has multiple folders, these folders have been shared and I want to list these directories via the API call.
What I was doing before is using bearer but then accessing the root folder of the shared workspace, which am guessing is not right method and I should be using the App authentication?
RegardsHmm... 🤔 Are your team data public??...
Sarcasm... of course...🙂
It's available in everyone in the group and folders inside have been shared with a sharable link.
eni8ma wrote:...
It's available in everyone in the group and folders inside have been shared ...Can I access this group data? 🤔 If you need to manage something non accessible with public link, you need bearer authentication. If you only need access link pointed data (link created in advance), then basic is enough. 😉
PS: It doesn't matter where data reside in.
Ok understood thanks, I will need to think this through I appreciate the help!
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