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Programmatically Process Shared Link Folders and Sub-Folders and Their Contents

Well I'm still at a loss.

I have the shared link to a folder that I need to check on a daily schedule to see if there's new files. The logic of which is all fine, but I just can't access anything below the initial shared link programatically.

Really all I need to get is the URL for any subfolder ... but I'll be damned if there's an API call that will supply that information.

I have tried with the API token provided by the DB Dev Docs (auto).
I have tried with my own token in place of that (to make the API call come from my account).
I have tried all of the following and none can penetrate the barrier that is the second level of folders:
1. get_shared_link_metadata
2. get_folder_metadata
3. list_received_files
4. list_folder
5. list_folders

I have access to the shared link, I have access to all the (3) subfolders.

One thing I note is that the URL changes once I enter the subfolder of the main shared link, and I'm unable to programattically

get that to just launch either a new get_shared_link_metadata on the new URL, or list_folder to get its contents. So if we had a primary shared link of:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aaa/bbb/

Let's say that has a subfolder called "john", I can't resolve that via the API because the URL to the john folder is not:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aaa/bbb/john

The link, instead, is:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aaa/ccc/john

A quick breakdown of how I would desire this to work:

Stage 1:

get_shared_link_metadata ---> list_folder

This works, and provides me with the contents of the shared folder, and the names and IDs of the subfolders.

Stage 2:

UNKNOWN ---> list_folder

This is the repeated stage (for each of the 3 subfolders), the UNKNOWN represents what I don't know, that should essentially be the equivalent of the get_shared_link_metadata ... except I don't have the right link for the subfolders, because they are changed each time.

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Greg-DB

To list the contents of a folder nested inside a folder, where you only have the shared link for that top folder, you can use /2/files/list_folder again with the original top-level shared link, but then specify the relative path of the nested folder (e.g. built from the returned 'name' fields), in the "path" parameter.

Here's a real example I just ran to illustrate this:

curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data "{\"shared_link\": {\"url\": \"https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tpgtd066g1umb13/AACPWhKNrRujRZHM3p7vXP1Qa?dl=0\"}, \"path\": \"\"}"

# {
#   "entries": [
#     {
#       ".tag": "folder",
#       "name": "another folder",
#       "path_lower": "/public/another folder",
#       "path_display": "/Public/another folder",
#       "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#       "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAFw",
#       "sharing_info": {
#         "read_only": false,
#         "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#         "traverse_only": false,
#         "no_access": false
#       }
#     },
#     {
#       ".tag": "folder",
#       "name": "some folder",
#       "path_lower": "/public/some folder",
#       "path_display": "/Public/some folder",
#       "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#       "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAGw",
#       "sharing_info": {
#         "read_only": false,
#         "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#         "traverse_only": false,
#         "no_access": false
#       }
#     },
#     {
#       ".tag": "folder",
#       "name": "one more folder",
#       "path_lower": "/public/one more folder",
#       "path_display": "/Public/one more folder",
#       "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#       "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAHA",
#       "sharing_info": {
#         "read_only": false,
#         "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#         "traverse_only": false,
#         "no_access": false
#       }
#     },
#     {
#       ".tag": "file",
#       "name": "Getting Started.pdf",
#       "path_lower": "/public/getting started.pdf",
#       "path_display": "/Public/Getting Started.pdf",
#       "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#       "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAAKbwQ",
#       "client_modified": "2015-01-30T22:53:09Z",
#       "server_modified": "2018-02-16T18:05:53Z",
#       "rev": "191ee4bb0",
#       "size": 249159,
#       "sharing_info": {
#         "read_only": false,
#         "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#         "modified_by": "dbid:AABL4QRrY7tB9viLgPUqmjkzE6Fe5ujlnlE"
#       },
#       "is_downloadable": true,
#       "content_hash": "c3dfdd86981548e48bc8efb6c4162c76ba961ec92e60f6ba26189068a41fcaf2"
#     },
#     {
#       ".tag": "file",
#       "name": "hello.txt",
#       "path_lower": "/public/hello.txt",
#       "path_display": "/Public/hello.txt",
#       "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#       "id": "id:25N5ksooX-sAAAAAAAAZYA",
#       "client_modified": "2014-07-02T01:28:43Z",
#       "server_modified": "2018-02-16T18:05:53Z",
#       "rev": "291ee4bb0",
#       "size": 14,
#       "sharing_info": {
#         "read_only": false,
#         "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#         "modified_by": "dbid:AABL4QRrY7tB9viLgPUqmjkzE6Fe5ujlnlE"
#       },
#       "is_downloadable": true,
#       "content_hash": "82674cafa4320daa280b666af141db2b5bd7db4dff3b69dd91a6caea9e30dafb"
#     }
#   ],
#   "cursor": "AAE77A9T4tcyL7eoj_qL_4C735arjRfDRL8yg-yBRm0LxVYkGlPWtyoihPXig3uKLM8EUBmtUHXDMMnqSzkkbCAeqy3e3IeX2M1rV2NtNKobfmPVVMbK1LiOyn9jI9AsDnF8HHkbgGnlgUw4CvJ1Y1q2pJU-UMzy7qR6K8nYhe2vAcuTfBJmSFgCny3YXlutGJZFubiv9n0-Xmr-i7f5ctcSDUqfw1_sw4mGGmHGIyo3lP_1XJRD9DOOW7WZTYt2Uwr3sVjluPJmO93MUMlu6zEs3pB7xVVTNKk4J24IdcSH2A",
#   "has_more": false
# }


curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data "{\"shared_link\": {\"url\": \"https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tpgtd066g1umb13/AACPWhKNrRujRZHM3p7vXP1Qa?dl=0\"}, \"path\": \"/another folder\"}"

# {
#   "entries": [
#     {
#       ".tag": "file",
#       "name": "test.png",
#       "path_lower": "/public/another folder/test.png",
#       "path_display": "/Public/another folder/test.png",
#       "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#       "id": "id:T9-uzcb3s4AAAAAAAAAAIA",
#       "client_modified": "2020-06-23T15:46:34Z",
#       "server_modified": "2020-06-23T15:46:35Z",
#       "rev": "5a8c2439cb67d91ee4bb0",
#       "size": 1427,
#       "sharing_info": {
#         "read_only": false,
#         "parent_shared_folder_id": "2448313264",
#         "modified_by": "dbid:AABL4QRrY7tB9viLgPUqmjkzE6Fe5ujlnlE"
#       },
#       "is_downloadable": true,
#       "content_hash": "3c6f88e464f1389ab9fc1a0c28c335e357bc61cf76e10e7bf3f146795e64e9f7"
#     }
#   ],
#   "cursor": "AAFWX5jkg5A6CEUiSOA_lCsuVVHlv2yCFtEkrE9CE4gKFmM3XFjUKL2znkL8V9104ofmyRBuSTIcjl1OOMy6_iuI21csGMIwqapxis_E0azOD7ZMDJQ0tJjMJ39sZ9i-WitNwuu0TDgzJn0UjDr7b9ZFktktVvK9VM5zB3W-3as0YaLmPpb8-4MovsdSiaQ12CSBRClnNVXSOa1T6SSOy3ktqn3SxFyr_fbXlzoevO2RiKthJHgdcFg7BGe89LN4_UKvpPFVGLZFdk6ZX6txXe3fW4Nuvq6k8a0HjLYSJt_yz_417KcLw8-a9sa97OxUYHXjqiDfkKWztFzEX4mWGpky",
#   "has_more": false
# }

Hope this helps, or let me know if I've misunderstood your use case!

eliotcole

Hi, Greg, thanks for that, but as stated, it doesn't work, because the URL for the subfolder is not the same as that of the main folder.

I'll try again, though.

Thanks for splitting this out, though. Since it has been split, then, could we change the title, perhaps, please? (I'll try, too)

Perhaps:

Programmatically Process Shared Link Folders and Sub-Folders and Their Contents

Greg-DB

Thanks for following up. I see you did successfully rename the thread.

Anyway, I understand that the shared link, e.g., as seen in the browser, is not the same for the subfolder as the main folder, but to call /2/files/list_folder for a subfolder, you don't actually need the shared link for the subfolder in particular. You just need the combination of the shared link for the main folder, and the relative path of the subfolder.

Check out the two API calls in the sample I posted. The first lists the contents of the main folder using its shared link, and the second list contents of a subfolder using that same main folder shared link, plus the relative path, constructed from the information in the first response.

If I understand correctly, that satisfies your use case here, but please elaborate if not. Thanks!

eliotcole

Hi, @Greg-DB , cheers ... I mean ... it sounds like it should ... but now I'm just hit with more issues.

I'm starting from scratch, and when I run the code that you gave with the URL I now get this error:

Error in call to API function "files/list_folder": request body: shared_link: unknown field 'path'

Greg-DB

It sounds like you accidentally moved a "}" when copying in your shared link. The "path" parameter should be a top-level parameter, not part of the "shared_link" parameter object.

eliotcole

You're quite right, cheers muchly, mate! :ThumbsUpAll: !! That managed to list the folder. Although, I don't think I would've *ever* worked that out from the documentation.

However all that said, I'm still not seeing any URL that I can use externally in any of those details, since experience has shown that the link plus the folder will not be a link that works in a browser.

Should I parse the parent_shared_folder_id in a file that's contained in the subfolder to then perform a folder metadata call with it to get the url?

I feel like that's going to be problematic if the folder is empty, though. Additionally, it would seem like a bit of a round the houses way to get links to subfolders.

@Greg-DB wrote:
It sounds like you accidentally moved a "}" when copying in your shared link. The "path" parameter should be a top-level parameter, not part of the "shared_link" parameter object.

Greg-DB

The /2/files/list_folder response doesn't include shared links for entries, nested or not. It does include the normal File/FolderMetadata for the entries though, so you can use that metadata in your app. To step back a bit though, what functionality are you trying to build?

For example, if you then want to programamtically download a file from one of the subfolders, you can then use /2/sharing/get_shared_link_file with the original main shared link and relevant relative path again to do so.

Alternatively, if you do just want the nested shared link itself, e.g., to hand off to the user to display in the browser, that isn't available on the API. Let me know if that's the end goal and I'll pass it along as a feature request though.

eliotcole

Hi, Greg

Thanks again!

Basically, yeah, that's the goal, so it'd be awesome if you could pass that on as a feature request.

I will accept the latest answer as a solution, but I think it's an amalgam of them all.

I think one of the issues with my previous code was that I was *completely* unaware of the "shared_link" part, which didn't seem to jump out at me whilst perusing the docs, but maybe I'm blind!

Would it be possible to use some combination of any of this with any of the online automation tools, such as Microsoft's powerful Power Automate stuff? Or maybe automate.io's much improving interface?

Oh, and in a while I'll come back and edit this post with some view on what I've put together so it's cogent.

@Greg-DB wrote:
The /2/files/list_folder response doesn't include shared links for entries, nested or not. It does include the normal File/FolderMetadata for the entries though, so you can use that metadata in your app. To step back a bit though, what functionality are you trying to build?

For example, if you then want to programamtically download a file from one of the subfolders, you can then use /2/sharing/get_shared_link_file with the original main shared link and relevant relative path again to do so.

Alternatively, if you do just want the nested shared link itself, e.g., to hand off to the user to display in the browser, that isn't available on the API. Let me know if that's the end goal and I'll pass it along as a feature request though.

Greg-DB

Got it, thanks! I'll send this along to the team. (I can't promise if/when it might be implemented though.)

I can't speak to those third party automation tools though, as they're not made by Dropbox.

eliotcole

Ello, I'm back again! :-)

I'm still trying to make this work.

I'm working with the copy, now.

So, let's say that I have this shared folder:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g0ja3gk1u1pjf9y/AADjilHpLqi-e5PO-RGp4PHIa?dl=0

That shared folder has a subfolder called:

test5

If I would like to copy the contents of that test5 subfolder to a given folder in the API, what am I putting in the 'from_path' field in this JSON?

{
    "from_path": "WHATGOESHERE?",
    "to_path": "/destination5",
    "allow_shared_folder": true,
    "autorename": false,
    "allow_ownership_transfer": false
}

------

Here's a few attempts that I've made that have failed miserably:

Spoiler

{
    "from_path": "https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g0ja3gk1u1pjf9y/AADjilHpLqi-e5PO-RGp4PHIa/test5",
    "to_path": "/destination5",
    "allow_shared_folder": true,
    "autorename": false,
    "allow_ownership_transfer": false
}

{
    "shared_link": { "url": "https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g0ja3gk1u1pjf9y/AADjilHpLqi-e5PO-RGp4PHIa" },
    "from_path": "/test5",
    "to_path": "/destination5",
    "allow_shared_folder": true,
    "autorename": false,
    "allow_ownership_transfer": false
}

{
  "from_path": {
    "shared_link": {
      "url": "https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g0ja3gk1u1pjf9y/AADjilHpLqi-e5PO-RGp4PHIa"
    },
    "path": "/test5"
  },
  "to_path": "/destination5",
  "allow_shared_folder": true,
  "autorename": false,
  "allow_ownership_transfer": false
}

I've also tried to have a look at the JAVA SDK builder, as I think that you actually recommended that someone was able to do it with that ... but I really don't understand how to use that.

Greg-DB

Unfortunately, the Dropbox API doesn't offer a way to copy from a shared link into the connected Dropbox account via the API like this, but I'll pass this along as a feature request as well. I can't promise if/when that might be implemented though.

The /2/files/copy_v2 call (or native method in an SDK) that you're referring to only supports copying files from one location in the connected account to another location in the same account. It doesn't support using a shared link as the source.

You could download the files, using /2/sharing/get_shared_link_file, and then upload them to the account, e.g., using /2/files/upload, but that would be comparatively inefficient of course.

eliotcole

Cheers, Greg, and thanks for taking it to the developers.

I will say that I've perused a few topics on this, and they've all been at least a year old, so I'm wondering if there's ever actually going to be any real movement with the (Public) Shared Folders/Links. (i'm not saying that in a tone that would indicate an attack on your person, mate ... just ... it seems like it's something that isn't desired for the public to have)

I guess, then, my final question would be what API command would you see as the best use case with regards to a cloud based implementation that may have size limits (let's take the Google API with limits size to 50MB per upload/download).

I would imagine that a "download then upload" won't be the ideal solution for that, would it? Would something like " get_temporary_link " work better. So it would:

Locate a file ID.
Generate a temporary link.

Allow that link to be used to directly access the file in question?

To be clear, I'm not stating that in a literal fashion, just using the get_temporary_link as an example, I'm sure there's a more appropriate function to achieve this.

Essentially, once I have identified a file that I would like to copy to another (let's assume an external API to work this out better) then I need to essentially be given a direct link to the file, somehow, to present to the other API. How would I get that link?

----

Would it perhaps be " get_shared_link_file " ?

If so, how would that work with the previously mentioned subfolder issues in that path?

https://content.dropboxapi.com/2/sharing/get_shared_link_file

(I'm about to attempt it, but will try to play it out here, too)

Greg-DB

Right, whenever possible, it's best to avoid unnecessarily uploading/downloading locally, for the sake of reliability and efficiency. Passing a link between two services, if supported, would likely be faster.

In this case, if you need a direct link to a file hosted on Dropbox, the specifics will depend on if the file exists in the Dropbox account you're connected to via the API (i.e., the one for which you have an access token).

If the file is in the connected account, /2/files/get_temporary_link would be a good option. That gives you a direct link to the file content, that you could hand off to the other service. Note that these links only last for four hours.

If the file is not in the connected account though, and say, you just have a shared link, /2/files/get_temporary_link won't work. Instead, this will depend on the shared link you have. If the shared link is already for the file itself, you can modify it for direct access as covered here. However, if the shared link is just for a parent folder, as discussed through this thread, then unfortunately there isn't a good solution. As earlier, the API doesn't offer a way to get a link to just the nested file based on a shared link to the folder that contains it.

eliotcole

Thanks again for coming back on this, mate. Really very much appreciated.

One last question ... how about the whole folder? That is, we know, not nested, and available at root.

Is there any internal reason given as to why the access to Shared Files is so antiquated (sorry) ... or ... let's be honest ... restrictive ... next to the rest of the interface? It seems ... odd. Particularly given the removal of RSS and the way that people use Shared Folders.

----

Also, not for nothing, but then this particular guide should include that Shared Sub-Folders are essentially not accessible via the API:

DBX File Access Guide - Dropbox (the "Non-downloadable files" section)

Greg-DB

Thanks for the feedback! I can't speak to why any particular feature was or wasn't implemented, but we appreciate you taking the time to share this. I'll send it along.

If you have a shared link for a folder and wish to get a direct link to that, you can likewise modify that as documented here. For folders, that will give you a .zip file of the folder.

Greg-DB

Update: The Dropbox API now returns the shared link for the nested item as 'url' when requesting the metadata for that item using the "path" parameter on /2/sharing/get_shared_link_metadata (instead of the original parent link).