The design of Dropbox's AUTH CODE page.

[seizo]

I'm creating an Android app that accesses to Dropbox API.

To access Dropbox, users have to get access token using OAuth 2.0.

In this process, before getting the access token, users have to copy and paste the AUTH CODE that is displayed in the Dropbox's web site.

I have a question about that Dropbox's web site.

It is very difficult to copy the code in the page, especially using smart phone.

The start-end indicators for copying never appear with some of my Android devices.
So I have to vibrate my finger on the screen to make the markers appear.

I think that the Dropbox's web page have to be modified to adjust all devices.
This is my strong demand to Dropbox.

But there might be another solution,,, but I don't know, as of this moment. <(_ _)>

regards.

[Greg-DB]

Thanks for the feedback! It sounds like part of this may be due to how text selection works on different versions of Android itself unfortunately.

We recommend using a redirect URI though, so that you can avoid the copy/paste step entirely. You can find information on setting and using a redirect_uri in the documentation:

https://www.dropbox.com/developers/documentation/http/documentation#oauth2-authorize

[seizo]

Thank you for the advice.

I'd already tried the redirect_uri, but I didnt use it finally,
because it is impossible or very difficult to install account selector in the redirect page.
Compared with the redirect page, Dropbox's ready-made page has built-in account selector.
It is beneficial not only for developers but also for Dropbox's users who would like to change using account case by case.

Regarding text selection, I don't think it is 100% due to each Android version.
I think that the auth code displayed in the Dropbox's ready-made page is too small compared with the human's finger.
It is so difficult to point the target. I think the size of text should be widened boldly.

I used very big fonts using CSS in the redirect page I mentioned above. It was so easy to select auth code.

I think it relatively easy to re-design Dropbox's ready-made page.
Only a few SCC are required, aren't they?
I hope Dropbox's customer-friendly API.

best regards

[Greg-DB · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the additional information! I'll send this along as a request to optimize this page, but I can't make any promises.

We do still highly recommend trying a redirect URI though. The /oauth2/authorize, which is still used even if you use a redirect URI, does also allow the user to switch Dropbox accounts. (In fact, switching accounts after hitting "Allow" would be too late to change what account is linked to the app anyway.)

It sounds like you may not want to use a redirect URI because it sometimes doesn't give the user a chance to switch though, since it may automatically redirect the user if they've already authorized the app. If that's the case, you should set force_reapprove=true to disable that behavior.

[seizo]

Hello Greg, Thank you for the kind advice.

"force_reapprove=true" is truly nice!
I'll try redirect-page with it readily.

I really appreciate your support. <(_ _)>   

[seizo]

Hi Greg,

Finally I used "force_reauthentication=true" to force users to choice their accounts before they are lead to the redirect-page.

Anyway, thank you for your advice.  

[Radhika Girigalla]

Please anybody tell me how to set the force_reauthentication as true in authorization url. 

DbxWebAuth.Request webAuthRequest = DbxWebAuth.newRequestBuilder().withForceReapprove(true).withRedirectUri(finalUrl, getSessionStore(httpServletRequest)).build();

in the above code, there is method for setting force_reapprove as true but no method for force_reauthentication as true. 

[Greg-DB]

@Radhika Girigalla I'll follow up with you on your GitHub issue.

[Radhika Girigalla]

Thank you for your quick response @Greg-DB.