Sharing link doesn't link to the recently updated version of the file

[Lak1]

I have noticed this issue(The sharing links are not getting updated whenever a change is made to a file. The sharing URL still shows the initial file.) in 2 places.

1) In the dropbox in node from the node-red-node-dropbox module in Node-RED. This node should constantly watch a Dropbox folder for changes and it should emit messages when any changes occur. This doesn't work.
2) Say I'm uploading a file called image.jpg to dropbox and when I'm downloading the same file using the URL https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxxxxxx/image.jpg?raw=1 after another update to that file, the changed or updated version of the image is not being downloaded.

Any help is appreciated!

[Здравко]

Hi @Lak1,

Are you really trying access updated version of the same file or new file using the same name?! The question is rhetoric of course. What I mean... If you update existing file in the most simple way (last depends on your actions, as on software you use - sometimes editing programs are guilty) then new version of the same file (here same file means same file id) is created. If you replace existing file with new one (emphasize on replace, not just update), then the new file version isn't related to the old file (again, here old file mean old id), but to new file! Some programs replace your files whenever save gets performed, without warning behind you, so you have to be careful what you use. Shared links get stick to the file ids, not file names! That's where your problem comes from, most probably. Try to change your work in a way, that files don't gonna removed in any one moment, or new links have to be created every time.

Hope this gives an idea.

ADD: A workaround could be share a containing folder instead file, if this works for you.

[Greg-DB]

@Lak1 We can't offer help with the "node-red-node-dropbox" module as that's made by a third party, but we'll be happy to help with the Dropbox functionality itself.

I just gave this a try myself and it is working correctly for me. Here's some API commands and output showing:

• uploading a file
• creating a shared link for the file
• accessing the shared link with raw=1 and getting the file contents
• updating the file with different contents
• accessing the same shared link with raw=1 again and getting the updated file contents

curl -X POST https://content.dropboxapi.com/2/files/upload \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
    --header "Dropbox-API-Arg: {\"path\": \"/test_396449.txt\"}" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
    --data-binary "test data version 1"

# {
#   "name": "test_396449.txt",
#   "path_lower": "/test_396449.txt",
#   "path_display": "/test_396449.txt",
#   "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAAOQzw",
#   "client_modified": "2020-02-12T16:17:02Z",
#   "server_modified": "2020-02-12T16:17:02Z",
#   "rev": "59e634d829303021eccc7",
#   "size": 19,
#   "is_downloadable": true,
#   "content_hash": "8aff3fe845b4e724436b87f745efd608286b5bc6d7c94317dbe324cf1445824a"
# }

curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/sharing/create_shared_link_with_settings \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data "{\"path\": \"/test_396449.txt\"}"

# {
#   ".tag": "file",
#   "url": "https://www.dropbox.com/s/wet7bqdjwwor8sl/test_396449.txt?dl=0",
#   "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAAOQzw",
#   "name": "test_396449.txt",
#   "path_lower": "/test_396449.txt",
# <redacted for brevity>
#   "client_modified": "2020-02-12T16:17:02Z",
#   "server_modified": "2020-02-12T16:17:02Z",
#   "rev": "59e634d829303021eccc7",
#   "size": 19
# }


curl -L "https://www.dropbox.com/s/wet7bqdjwwor8sl/test_396449.txt?raw=1"

# test data version 1

curl -X POST https://content.dropboxapi.com/2/files/upload \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
    --header "Dropbox-API-Arg: {\"path\": \"/test_396449.txt\",\"mode\": \"overwrite\"}" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
    --data-binary "test data version 2"

# {
#   "name": "test_396449.txt",
#   "path_lower": "/test_396449.txt",
#   "path_display": "/test_396449.txt",
#   "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAAOQzw",
#   "client_modified": "2020-02-12T16:17:49Z",
#   "server_modified": "2020-02-12T16:17:49Z",
#   "rev": "59e63504c98d3021eccc7",
#   "size": 19,
#   "is_downloadable": true,
#   "content_hash": "f6e2c4101df704af41746f4e31737aba964882bcac17983f1d969b56fef39fa2"
# }


curl -L "https://www.dropbox.com/s/wet7bqdjwwor8sl/test_396449.txt?raw=1"

# test data version 2

As Здравко mentioned, make sure you're updating and accessing the same file each time.

If something still isn't working as expected, please share the steps to reproduce the issue and the unexpected output you're getting so we can look into it for you.

[Lak1]

Actually, the problem was in the dropbox out node in node-red. I was using it to send image files to dropbox. The node has not been updated to the latest version of Dropbox API. It was still using the overwrite method and because of that, I might have had this issue. 

Anyway, thanks a lot, Здравко and Greg K. 

I really appreciate your replies. Your answers gave me new insights. Never thought there will be something called file ID which is different from the file name.

I'll use the API endpoints to send my data.