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Check sync status of dropbox app, programmatically via c++ or api

I wonder if it is possible to tell when dropbox is syncing programmatically,

ideally indirectly via c++

for example let's assume that when dropbox is syncing it writes a tinly .txt or .xml etc file somewhere in its programFiles directory

a developer can check that file (read only) and get dropbox status?

or via the dropbox api??

kind regards..

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Greg-DB

No, unfortunately Dropbox doesn't offer a way to check the client status programmatically, but I'll pass this along as a feature request.

Здравко

Hi @Greg-DB,

Actually it's possible, but is platform dependent and available only for Dropbox on Linux. Take a look in the socket "~/.dropbox/command_socket".

@Kyri, If your platform is Linux, you are happy, otherwise - have to hope something will change.

Kyri

I am currently using Windows SRV for this project unfortunately

Greg-DB

Thanks for sharing that additional information @Здравко . Please note though that that socket itself is not officially documented and is not considered an officially supported API for third parties to use to interact with the Dropbox desktop client, so I can't recommend using it. (It's meant for the dropbox.py script we offer for managing the client on Linux via the CLI. One could technically program against the commands offered by that script, but it's not meant as a programmatic interface like the API is.)

Здравко

May be that's a serious Dropbox drawback and have to be considered seriously.

Greg-DB

@Здравко Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I've filed this as a feature request for an official API for checking the client programmatically.

Здравко

Hi @Greg-DB,

I hope you can add to the feature request, "~/.dropbox/command_socket" related, also support for "~/.dropbox/iface_socket" socket. The second one isn't only available on Linux, but also on Mac. Documentation for, already available, interfaces would be helpful and could meet many applications in practice. These interfaces wasn't changed for least 4-5 years (might be more), so it's finally time to be documented (and got supported officially).

Greg-DB

@Здравко Thanks for the additional note and information!

Roason

I know it's been a little more than a year; but I would like a programmatic way to access the Windows sync app status. Is there a way for the community to find out what feature requests are being considered and weigh in on them in some way?

Greg-DB

@Roason Thanks for the post! Posting on the forum like this is a good way to weigh in and indicate that you'd like a particular feature to be implemented. I'll follow up here with any updates, but I don't have any new on this particular feature request.

Moesslacher

Please count me also in as someone who would love to see an API to check the sync status of DropBox. I am surprised that such a general requirement was not implemented yet...

Kind regards,
Friedrich

Здравко

@Moesslacher, This "new" feature is implemented long time ago actually. It's just not document properly and not officially supported. 🤷 That's it.

Moesslacher

@Здравко, Thank you, but where can I find out about how to use this API if it is not documented?

Greg-DB

@Moesslacher Thanks for the feedback! I don't have an update on this. Please note the functionality Здравко is referring to is not publicly documented and not meant for third party use.

Здравко

@Moesslacher wrote:
... where can I find out about how to use this API if it is not documented?

😁 As in all cases when something is not documented, you can always trace what's going on when your file browser tries to determine your sync status (or other things) and re-implement it in your code (if you're patient enough). 😉 See what ports Dropbox application on your system is listening on and trace there. It's easy on Linux because of sources availability, but I believe it's similar on other systems (just a bit different in ports engagement).

Good luck.

@Greg-DB, It's time this be documented finally! Even on Linux, despite of public sources availability, no any documentation about communication details. There is nothing new to be done actually (everything exists already), just Dropbox staff responsible for documentation to be less lazy. 🤦