We're making changes to the Community, so you may have received some notifications - thanks for your patience and welcome back. Learn more here.
Forum Discussion
Test whether file has finished syncing on windows
Hi,
I need to test programatically (any language/script) whether a file which has just been changed locally on PC has finished syncing via dropbox.
If it hasn't yet started syncing or hasn't yet finished, my code must wait.
My first stab was examining the dropbox file attributes (https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/extended-attributes), but having worked out how to get the extended attributes, I can't find any resources to interpret them.
I also considered the API, but I have read that there is not a straightforward check using the API on the status of a local filesystem file.
Any suggestions, or details for the attributes would be appreciated.
Thanks, and Happy 2020!
Unfortunately, Dropbox doesn't offer an official API for checking the status of the local Dropbox desktop client or files like this, but I'll pass this along as a feature request. I can't promise if or when that might be implemented though.
- Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff
Unfortunately, Dropbox doesn't offer an official API for checking the status of the local Dropbox desktop client or files like this, but I'll pass this along as a feature request. I can't promise if or when that might be implemented though.
- Greg, thanks for the confirmation of what I saw elsewhere (but needed checking).
My half-baked ideas of the API would have me expect that the API is running on the Dropbox server, which might not even yet know that the file had been changed if the syncing hasn’t yet started, in which case a server API call would be unreliable anyway.
Would you know anything about interrogating the local machine using file attributes or the Dropbox service?- Greg-DB
That's correct. The Dropbox API operates by communicating with the Dropbox servers, so information about unstarted or incomplete activity from desktop clients wouldn't be available anyway.
I'm afraid I don't have any information to offer about inspecting local file attributes or the local Dropbox client/service. I can't recommend doing so anyway as that's not officially documented for use as a programmatic interface like this, and so is subject to change.
About Discuss Dropbox Developer & API
Make connections with other developers
