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OperationsDreaming's avatar
OperationsDreaming
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

Unable to get long lived access tokens.

Hello there!

 

I'm trying to get an access token that doesn't expire. A long-lived access token. For now, when I generated an access token from the App Console, the session will expire after x hours and won't give me a refresh token either.

I've checked the authentication documentation: 

 

https://developers.dropbox.com/oauth-guide#implementing-oauth

 

But I can't find the Access Token Expiration like the documentation shows:

 

 

 

Mine is displayed like this: 

 


As you can see, the option for the Expiration is missing. 


So I kept looking and came across a similar question on the forums and I followed every step: 

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-API-Support-Feedback/Tokens-only-valid-for-4-hours-from-app-console/m-p/425358/highlight/true#M22718

 

Still can't get a long-lived access token.

 

Here's a test code: 

 

 

 

access_token = "sl-ABC" # I want a long lived one.
app_key = "xyz"
dbxTeam: dropbox = dropbox.DropboxTeam(oauth2_access_token=access_token, app_key=app_key)
print('Dbx Team is: ', dbxTeam.as_user('dbmid:MY_USER_ID').users_get_current_account())

 

 

 

output:

 

 

 

{
'_oauth2_access_token':'sl....',
'_oauth2_refresh_token': None,
'_oauth2_access_token_expiration': None,
'_app_key': 'xyz',
'_app_secret': None,
'_scope': None,
'_max_retries_on_error': 4,
'_max_retries_on_rate_limit': None,

'_session': <requests.sessions.Session object at 0x1083b1730>,
'_headers': None,
'_raw_user_agent': None,
'_user_agent': 'OfficialDropboxPythonSDKv2/11.28.0',
'_logger': <Logger dropbox (WARNING)>,
'_host_map': {'api': 'api.dropboxapi.com',
'content': 'content.dropboxapi.com',
'notify': 'notify.dropboxapi.com'},
'_timeout': 100}

 

 


Any ideas on how to get a token that won't expire?

 

    • marksmithhfx's avatar
      marksmithhfx
      Explorer | Level 4

      I have been using the long lived access token you can request when you setup your app, and have that embedded in my app. I use it to send a "synchronizing" file to DB whenever I make changes. I don't need to re-authenticate. My question is, if I know allow users to do the same thing, they will need to authenticate and I will get a short lived AT and a refresh AT. How much additional latency will they experience converting the AT from refresh to short lived? Currently the total latency to connect to DB and upload a file from my app is < 1/2 second, or barely noticeable. Will all of the "re-allocation" steps add significantly to this.

       

      Thank you. 

      • Здравко's avatar
        Здравко
        Legendary | Level 20

        Hi marksmithhfx,

        Your question is very generic, so it's difficult to receive exact answer. Additional time consumption is on refresh only. Since data size transferred is relatively negligible, establishing secure connection gets primary weight. In other words additional time depends on your connection latency more than the connection speed.

        Other point you should consider, on evaluation, is usage time profile - i.e. how often, relatively, refresh will take on. Let's recall additional time will be added on refresh only, so if your usage profile predispose many calls in a 4 hours time frame, weight of the refresh will be negligible. If your calls bring up on intervals bigger than 4 hours then the relative weight might be bigger (on every calls burst - one refresh). Once the refresh take place, no difference can be expected for rest of calls - they are the same (no additional delay per call).

        The best way to figure out exact answer in your particular conditions is... the check. 😉 Most probably it will be negligible.

        Good luck.

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