Why does the official Dropbox Android SDK not contain an intent?

davidv7

I've recently decided to integrate Dropbox into my simple app. I followed the github official example and the tutorial Dropbox posted for Android.

 

However, after expanding my horizons I realized this works just as well, without an app key and other things:

 

 

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);intent.setType("text/xml");intent.setPackage("com.dropbox.android");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, 
FileProvider.getUriForFile(getContext(), "david.projectclouds.MainActivity", file));
getContext().startActivity(Intent.createChooser(intent, "title"));


Now I want to know what are the pros of using your implementation instead of simple intents? I'm pretty new to Android dev so go easy on me.
I also am pretty sure the decision was not random. 

Greg-DB

The Dropbox Android SDK (like the rest of the SDKs for other platforms) is built on the Dropbox API HTTP endpoints, meaning that it enables apps to communicate directly with the Dropbox servers to integrate with Dropbox.

 

The official Dropbox Android app itself does offer some intents, unrelated the above API.

 

Using intents means you don't need to register for an app key, but it also requires that the official Dropbox Android app be installed. The Dropbox API also offers a wider variety of functionality than the official app's intents. You can use whichever you want though.