Generate folder link manually

[solsupp]

I wish to send uploaded folder links to potential folder members manually, via my own constructed email, is this possible.

Also will I still have to add folder members using "AddFolderMemberAsync", before manually creating any email?

[Greg K.]

If you want to share folders with other members programmatically but handle the communication yourself, you can do so. You will still need to call AddFolderMemberAsync; otherwise they won't have access to the folder.

To do so, you would want to:

• Share the folder initially using ShareFolderAsync (this only needs to be done once per folder).
• Get the resulting SharedFolderMetadata.PreviewUrl.
• Call AddFolderMemberAsync including each new member to invite. It defaults to not sending them an email from Dropbox.
• Send the SharedFolderMetadata.PreviewUrl to those members via your desired channel. Each invited member can then sign in to their account and go to that URL to add the folder to their account.

[solsupp]

OK, thanks for that.  I currently use

  Dim updated As ShareFolderLaunch = Await dbx.Sharing.ShareFolderAsync(filepath, Nothing, True)

how can I get SharedFolderMetadata.PreviewUrl from SharedFolderLaunch, I am not sure of how to do this, and it wont cast as a previewURL.

[Greg K.]

The ShareFolderAsync method returns a ShareFolderLaunch. Per the ShareFolderAsync documentation, if a ShareFolderLaunch.AsyncJobId is returned, you need to periodically call CheckShareJobStatusAsync to see when the job (i.e., sharing the folder) is done. 

Once you get ShareFolderJobStatus.Complete from CheckShareJobStatusAsync, you can get the SharedFolderMetadata from ShareFolderJobStatus.Complete.Value.

Or, if the ShareFolderAsync method returns a ShareFolderLaunch.Complete directly, get the SharedFolderMetadata from ShareFolderLaunch.Complete.Value.

Either way, you can then get the URL from SharedFolderMetadata.PreviewUrl. 

[solsupp]

Thanks for your help, all working well now, one more question, what is the best method for deleting the folder>? if it exists.

[Greg K.]

To delete a file or folder, you should use DeleteAsync.

Note that deleting a folder removes it from the account, but it does not unshare it from other members. To remove a specific member from a shared folder, use RemoveFolderMemberAsync. To fully unshare a shared folder, use UnshareFolderAsync.

[solsupp]

If I upload a file and say the same file exists, can I overwrite what is currently there, at the minute I get an exception pretty much saying the file already exists.

[Greg K.]

Yes, you can control what happens when uploading to a path where a file already exists by specifying a particular WriteMode, e.g., to the `mode` parameter for UploadAsync. Please refer to those documentation pages for more information (and be sure to review the `autorename` parameter as well).

[solsupp]

Yep, I have that set to WriteMode.Overwrite.Instance, what about larger files?

I am using :

 Private Async Function ChunkUploadAndCreateEmail(path As [String], stream As FileStream, chunkSize As Integer, dbx As DropboxClient, filepath As String) As Task

        Dim numChunks As Integer = CInt(Math.Ceiling(CDbl(stream.Length) / chunkSize))
        Dim buffer As Byte() = New Byte(chunkSize - 1) {}
        Dim sessionId As String = Nothing
        For idx = 0 To numChunks - 1
            Dim byteRead = stream.Read(buffer, 0, chunkSize)

            Using memStream = New MemoryStream(buffer, 0, byteRead)
                If idx = 0 Then
                    Dim result = Await dbx.Files.UploadSessionStartAsync(False, memStream)
                    sessionId = result.SessionId
                Else
                    Dim cursor = New UploadSessionCursor(sessionId, CULng(CUInt(chunkSize) * CUInt(idx)))

                    If idx = numChunks - 1 Then
                        Dim fileMetadata As FileMetadata = Await dbx.Files.UploadSessionFinishAsync(cursor, New CommitInfo(path), memStream)
                    Else
                        Await dbx.Files.UploadSessionAppendV2Async(cursor, False, memStream)
                    End If
                End If


            End Using
        Next

    End Function

[Greg K.]

When using upload sessions to upload larger files, you can likewise specify the WriteMode in the CommitInfo you pass to UploadSessionFinishAsync using CommitInfo.Mode.