cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
If you’ve changed your email address, now's the perfect time to update it on your Dropbox account and we’re here to help! Learn more here.

Dropbox API Support & Feedback

Find help with the Dropbox API from other developers.

cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

not getting data for edits in folders

not getting data for edits in folders

af11
Explorer | Level 4

Hi,

I set up a notification system to get notified when there are changes to my dropbox account.  

The following is a code excerpt

def process_user(account):

# cursor for the user (None the first time)
cursor = redis_client.hget('cursors', account)

dbx = Dropbox(ACCESS_TOKEN)

has_more = True

while has_more:
if cursor is None:
result = dbx.files_list_folder(path='', recursive=True)
print(f'RESULT WHEN CURSOR WAS NONE: {result}')
else:
result = dbx.files_list_folder_continue(cursor)
print(f'RESULT WHEN WAS CURSOR: {result}')

for entry in result.entries:
print(entry)
send_notification('entry')

# Update cursor
cursor = result.cursor
redis_client.hset('cursors', account, cursor)

# Repeat only if there's more to do
has_more = result.has_more

However, when I make edits to data in folders, this is what files_list_folder_continue returns: 

ListFolderResult(cursor='AAFZsPF8zLH6ZKF2EXhPnqhXR5OhP-0ydWr8wx3hph4byo7wTdJytQCwIY7x8JeXI01j1x417_VNyrOrFmNyx8-CUghuHeCxrrkZZXRmMBgStDBJy-XEqKEeXIcyJ0iMvxdSI_hnDPdRcvEL1esHLHr5L1JYjx9RLis8nNqWG_MJH4dwjWZd3hJIM2hTGHSV_1A', entries=[], has_more=False)


 The entry array is empty.  How am I supposed to know what was edited?  What can I change so that I get the data for edits in folders?

 

Thank you

3 Replies 3

Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff

Webhook notifications tell you when something has changed, and using the files_list_folder/files_list_folder_continue functionality is the right way to then list items and check for changes.

 

In this case, I see you're getting back a result with an empty entries list, indicating that there were no changes to report for the supplied cursor. Webhook notifications will be sent for any changes, but the entries that the files_list_folder/files_list_folder_continue functionality returns will depend on the parameters you used with them originally. From your files_list_folder call I see you're passing in the empty string as the path and are setting recursive=True. Note that by default though, API calls operate in the "member folder" of the connected account, so anything outside the member folder, such as in the "team space", if any, will not be found by default. You can configure API calls to operate in the "team space" instead though. To do so, you'll need to set the "Dropbox-Api-Path-Root" header. You can find information on this in the Team Files Guide.

af11
Explorer | Level 4

The thing is that I am testing this app on a personal account for now so the team members is not the issue.

There are changes being made when the Webhook returns an empty entry.

Could it be that the issue is that I only set the recursive property later on, after I had been running the code a few times?

Can you please advise?

Thank you

Greg-DB
Dropbox Staff

This would depend on the particular timing and cursors you're using, but yes, the options you set on files_list_folder apply to the cursor resulting from that call, as well as all further cursors retrieved from that initial cursor. So, for example, if you are using a cursor that descends from a call that originally set 'recursive=False' (or omitted 'recursive', since the default is 'False), then you will not receive any nested entries when using that cursor (or any such descendant cursor). You would need to start again with files_list_folder to change the options.

Need more support?
Who's talking

Top contributors to this post

  • User avatar
    Greg-DB Dropbox Staff
  • User avatar
    af11 Explorer | Level 4
What do Dropbox user levels mean?