The given OAuth 2 access token is malformed.

[hrh747]

Hi,

Previously, I had saved the OAuth 2 access token in a variable in my Python code, and I was able to use the token to connect and download files from my Dropbox folders. However, I decided to store the OAuth 2 access token in a local file on my drive instead, so in case (for some inexplicable reason) if it changed in the future, I wouldn't have to make any code change. Unfortunately, under this scenario I get the following error when I try to download files:

 File "C:\Users\lib\site-packages\dropbox\base.py", line 1310, in files_download_to_file
r = self.request(
File "C:\Users\hrh74\lib\site-packages\dropbox\dropbox_client.py", line 323, in request
res = self.request_json_string_with_retry(host,
File "C:\Users\lib\site-packages\dropbox\dropbox_client.py", line 479, in request_json_string_with_retry
return self.request_json_string(host,
File "C:\Users\lib\site-packages\dropbox\dropbox_client.py", line 604, in request_json_string
raise BadInputError(request_id, r.text)
dropbox.exceptions.BadInputError: BadInputError('5a7e90464ddc473e925b048f9a99fc08', 'Error in call to API function "files/download": The given OAuth 2 access token is malformed.')
 

The file that has the OAuth 2 token is a simple text file with one line with the token as follow:

"xyz........"

Any insight as why the token within the code works but retrieving it from a local text file doesn't?

Thanks in advance

[Здравко · Accepted solution]

Hi @hrh747,

Since you have your access token checked and it's working, seems you have saved the token in wrong way and/or improperly read it within your code. The best way for debug this case, I think, is to "resurrect" the variable you did use before, so there would be reference value. Compare value you are reading from file to the reference one. Does they match? 🤔 If need, compare the values symbol by symbol to find out where precisely the difference is. 😉 By the way, have you stripped blanks on read?

Hope this gives right direction.

[hrh747]

Hi there,

Thanks for the kind response. Yes, I have stripped the blank while reading the token, however, I am to take your advice and make the string comparison to see where the difference might be. I will let you know.

Thanks again.

[hrh747]

Thanks for the tip. The string comparison revealed an interesting fact. A pair of double quotes surrounded the token in the external file. It turned out that Python wrapped the token with additional pair of single quotes when reading it from the external file. I saved the token in the file without the double-quotes, and the code is working now 🙂

I thank you immensely for the help.