Getting refresh token for shiny app using rdrop2 and drop_auth()

Hi rs123,

Seems you are using unsupported SDK. Regular access tokens expire in 4 hours as you noted.

---

rs123 wrote:

...

NB: I am aware that dropbox no longer allow tokens with no expiry (as of September 2021) so I need to go down the refresh token route.

---

Not exactly! Existing long lived access tokens (if you have any) keep validity. You can't create new such token; all new access tokens are short lived (but only access tokens). It's not the same for refresh tokens; they are without due date!

I don't know what exactly is available in your environment, but if there isn't newer version of the SDK, used by you, and supported SDKs can not be used in your case, you have to manage direct access points call (to receive and manage tokens, at least). You should make sure authorization rules are followed strictly and selected token type is "offline". So aside of the regular access token your application will receive refresh token too. When the due date gets close, you can use received refresh token to get a new regular access token in a /oauth2/token call. This should repeat on regular basis whenever need. The rest of the code could work without change with ensured valid access token. That's it.

Hope this helps.

[Cross-linking for reference: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71393752/get-a-refresh-token-for-dropbox-api-using-rdrop2-and-drop-auth ]

As you found, Dropbox is in the process of switching to only issuing short-lived access tokens (and optional refresh tokens) instead of long-lived access tokens. You can find more information on this migration here. We don't have any resources for R in particular unfortunately.

Apps can still get long-term access by requesting "offline" access though, in which case the app receives a "refresh token" that can be used to retrieve new short-lived access tokens as needed, without further manual user intervention. You can find more information in the OAuth Guide and authorization documentation. Support for refresh tokens would ideally be built in to the "rdrop2" library you're using. That's not made by Dropbox though so I can't offer help with that.

As Здравко noted, while the creation of new long-lived access tokens is now deprecated, we don't currently have a plan to disable existing long-lived access tokens. (If that changes, we will of course announce that ahead of time.) That being the case, you can continue using existing long-lived access token(s) without interruption, if you have any. Also, note though that after the change you won't be able to create new long-lived access tokens.

While the change began on September 30th 2021, we're releasing it gradually, so you may not have seen your app(s) affected until now. Once it applies to your app, it would apply regardless of the "Access token expiration" setting for your app, and that setting may no longer be available for your app.