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edh's avatar
edh
Explorer | Level 4
8 years ago

Getting Share Link Before Upload Completes

Hi,   Is it possible to add a file to dropbox and get the share link *before* the upload completes?   We're adding video files, which may take several minutes to upload, so having the user wait i...
API
  • Greg-DB's avatar
    Greg-DB
    8 years ago
    No, I'm afraid I can't think of another workaround for this. Using the deprecated endpoint or using a placeholder file are the only things that come to mind.

    The shared links can't be "computed" exactly, since the token in the URL is randomly generated only when the link is created.
Greg-DB's avatar
Greg-DB
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

This is technically possible using the 'pending_upload' parameter on /2/sharing/create_shared_link, but that endpoint is deprecated.

 

There isn't currently a non-deprecated way of getting a shared link for a pending file like this, but I'll be sure to pass this along as a feature request.

edh's avatar
edh
Explorer | Level 4
8 years ago

 Hey Greg,

 

Thanks for the quick response.

 

Can you think of any other work-aounds for this?  Would uploading a small (like 1 byte) file, getting the share link, then replacing it with the full video file (same file name) work?

 

thanks again

  • Greg-DB's avatar
    Greg-DB
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    8 years ago
    That should technically work, but I don't recommend it, since it makes the process less obvious/more error prone. For instance, it may make it less obvious if the actual file upload failed, since the the file would appear to already be there as far as the user can see, if they don't check the file size. The user may then download the temporary file without realizing it isn't the real file.
    • edh's avatar
      edh
      Explorer | Level 4
      8 years ago

      Thanks again, Greg.

       

      Any other suggestions or workarounds you can think of for this?

       

      Breaking up the user's workflow like this waiting for a download link is a non-starter for us.  (and as a user myself, it's painful! ;-) )

       

      Is there anyway to compute what the final share link will be, or anything elase we could try?

       

      Thanks!

       

      • Greg-DB's avatar
        Greg-DB
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        8 years ago
        No, I'm afraid I can't think of another workaround for this. Using the deprecated endpoint or using a placeholder file are the only things that come to mind.

        The shared links can't be "computed" exactly, since the token in the URL is randomly generated only when the link is created.

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