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Forum Discussion
How to create oauth2 access token from code?
Hello, I have written a backup solution and want to automatically post the backup file (a zip) to my Dropbox account every day when backup finishes.
How can I create an auth2 token by code and use ...
Hi Pelleman,
Access token received in whatever way is short lived and can't be used alone for a long time (4 hours, at most). For long term access (solution) you need to get to and store refresh token, which doesn't expire automatically. This token could be used to regenerate access token on demand and use the access token while valid for all regular API calls. For more info how you can get to such a refresh token and how you can automate "refreshing", take a look here. 😉
Hope this helps.
I should add that I have spent a few hours trying to use
https://api.dropboxapi.com/oauth2/token
but it does not seem to provide a way to actually create a fully automated flow based on just the app id and secret. I don't want the step where a user has to open a browser or use some silly intermediary/proxy web server to make additional requests. It would not improve security in my project.
So I want to
1. "Login" automatically in my code to dropbox, based on credentials saved in a file, to get the Oauth2 access code to use in step 2.
2. Upload my file using the Oauth2 access code
Is this even possible? Or should I look at other solutions/storage applications which allows a fully automated flow? Please provide an elaborated answer on how to achieve steps 1 and 2. Thanks!
Hi Pelleman,
Access token received in whatever way is short lived and can't be used alone for a long time (4 hours, at most). For long term access (solution) you need to get to and store refresh token, which doesn't expire automatically. This token could be used to regenerate access token on demand and use the access token while valid for all regular API calls. For more info how you can get to such a refresh token and how you can automate "refreshing", take a look here. 😉
Hope this helps.
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