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the easiest way for users to access data on one (joint) account via API - access token

I'm a beginner and I'm lost when working with authorization token. I have a desktop application that users will use to access my files (occasional access to small dials). The software is written in DELPHI. API testing with test token generation (valid for 4 hours) works great, but I can't move forward. I thought it was enough to replace the test temporary token with the app generated token (see pic), but it doesn't work that way. Can you please give me the EASIEST way to make files in my dropbox account available to users? Ideally, a simple example. Thank you very much.

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Здравко

Hi @Polas,

At present all new access tokens are short-lived (as you noted up to 4 hours - 14400 seconds at most). The old long-lived access tokens are in retirement already. If by any chance you have such a token left, you still can use it, but new can't be created (leading "sl" - before the dot - means Short Lived). For long term access, without further end user activity, you have to use refresh token (offline access) that can be used to "refresh" the access token (i.e. regenerate it).

@Polas wrote:
... The software is written in DELPHI. ...

Unfortunately, There is no Delphi SDK, supported by Dropbox, and you have to call API end points using available HTTP tool in your environment. You can take a closer look about managing refresh token in the thread here. 😉

Good luck.

Greg-DB

@Polas As Здравко said, for long-term access, you should request "offline" access to get a "refresh token". You can find more information in the OAuth Guide and authorization documentation, as well as this blog post.

Also, it sounds like you may want to have multiple users connect directly to your own specific Dropbox account via the API. Note that the API was designed with the intention that each user would link their own Dropbox account, in order to interact with their own files. While it is technically possible to always connect to just one account for all users, we do not officially support this, for various technical and security reasons. To give others access to content in your account, you may want to use Dropbox sharing functionality instead.

Polas

I still can't, I've only progressed a bit:

1. I asked for a code

https://www.dropbox.com/oauth2/authorize?token_access_type=offline&response_type=code&client_id=ka23ob52ucbnj2u

and I got <received code>

the next step failed

2. https://api.dropbox.com/oauth2/token -d code=<CODE_FROM_THE_IMAGE> -d grant_type=authorization_code -u <KEY_APP> : <SECR_KEY_APP>

What am I doing wrong? is the syntax ok?

I'm sure both the app key and the secret key are fine. Please advise, thanks!

Здравко

@Polas, API calls can't get through the browser address line! Are you aware what's "curl"? 🧐

Hope this gives direction.

Greg-DB

@Polas As Здравко noted, it appears you are attempting to use /oauth2/token in your browser, which won't work. Note that while /oauth2/authorize is a web page that the user would access in their browser, /oauth2/token is not; /oauth2/token is an OAuth endpoint that you would call programmatically.

For instance, the examples in the /oauth2/token documentation use curl to peform that call, but you can use any HTTPS client of your choosing.