python SDK

[app5000]

what is the difference between Dropbox.files_get_metadata and dropbox.files.FileMetadata? Which one should I use to get file server_Modified time?

[Greg-DB · Accepted solution]

Dropbox.files_get_metadata is a method, which you can use to get metadata for a file or folder. dropbox.files.FileMetadata is the class used to represent metadata for a file.

For example, when you call Dropbox.files_get_metadata for a file, it will return an instance of dropbox.files.FileMetadata. You can the get the server modified time via dropbox.files.FileMetadata.server_modified, that is, the server_modified attribute of the FileMetadata instance.

For example, that would look like this:

metadata = dbx.files_get_metadata("/test.txt")
print("File: %s" % metadata.name)
print("Server modified time: %s" % metadata.server_modified)

[app5000]

Thank you Greg for your quick reply.  The answer is very clear but dropbox documentation is hard to follow.  In it, the Return type is:
dropbox.files.Metadata NOT dropbox.files.FileMetadata for Dropbox.files_get_metadata method.  I checked on dropbox.files.Metadata and it does not include server_Modified attribute.  SO maybe your doc is not up to date?

[Greg-DB]

The documentation is accurate. dropbox.files.FileMetadata is a subclass of dropbox.files.Metadata.

The files_get_metadata method will return an instance of dropbox.files.Metadata. That will be an instance of dropbox.files.FileMetadata for files, dropbox.files.FolderMetadata for folders, or dropbox.files.DeletedMetadata for a deleted item.

You can use isinstance to check if the instance is a file, etc., as shown here:

https://github.com/dropbox/dropbox-sdk-python/blob/350e6e23feb2b5fb302e808695c228d49648ffdd/example/...

[app5000]

Thank you.  This helps a lot.  Maybe your doc can have a page showing all the methods, then a page showing all the classes etc.  It is hard to follow when they are all mixed together.

[Greg-DB]

Thanks for the feedback!