Dropbox API wrapper

Dropbox-APIx is Dropbox API wrapper with simple upload and share options. It should be used in applications on server side for easy upload on Dropbox and automatic share it. Using this wrapper in MeteorJS framework is also supported.

A simple explanation will be: Call upload method with some parameters and content of a file, it will upload a file and return shared link which could be stored somewhere (in database). For detailed explanation, please read bellow.

Table of Contents

• Getting started
• Dependencies
• How to use?
• All wrapper methods

Getting started

Before start to use this Dropbox API wrapper, please create your Dropbox account and get API key. Please visit https://www.dropbox.com/developers. Also this or this video should help to generate API key.

Install npm package with: npm install 'dropbox-apix' --save or install in MeteorJS app folder with: meteor npm install 'dropbox-apix' --save.

Dependencies

These dependencies are used in wrapper:

• XMLHttpRequest
• URL parse

* Note: Dependencies will be automatically installed while installing this wrapper

How to use?

Node JS example on server side:

var DropboxApix = require('../dropbox-apix');
var fs = require('fs'); // We need this for file reading

var dbx = new DropboxApix({
	key: 'DROPBOX API KEY'
});

var params = {
	path: '/name-of-uploaded-file.jpg',
	autorename: true
}

fs.readFile('local-file-on-server.jpg', function(err, contents) {
	let buffer = new Buffer(contents);
	dbx.upload_with_sharing(params, buffer, function(res, err) {
		if(err) {
			console.log(err.msg);
			return;
		};
		console.log(res); // res is json with filename and link properties
	});
});

In callback function, res contains:

{
	filename: <filename on server>,
	link: <direct link which should be used in HTML -> A HREF property>
}

MeteorJS example:

// server side
import DropboxApix from 'dropbox-apix';

if(Meteor.isServer) {
	dbx = new DropboxApix({
		key: 'DROPBOX API KEY'
	});
}

Meteor.methods({
	'file-upload': function (filename, fileData) {

		var params = {
			path: '/'+filename,
			autorename: true
		}

		dbx.upload_with_sharing(params, new Buffer(fileData), function(res, err) {
			if(err) {
				console.log(err.msg);
				return;
			};
			// res.link should be stored in database or somewhere else
			console.log(res);
		});
	}
});

// client side
//HTML
<template name="uploadForm">
    <input id="fileInput" type="file" />
</template>

//JS
Template.uploadForm.events({
  'change #fileInput'(e, template) {
    if (e.currentTarget.files && e.currentTarget.files[0]) {
		var file = e.currentTarget.files[0];
		var filename = file.name;
		var reader = new FileReader();
		reader.onload = function(fileLoadEvent) {
			var buffer = new Uint8Array(reader.result) // convert to binary
			Meteor.call('file-upload', filename, buffer);
		};
		reader.readAsArrayBuffer(file);
    }
  }
});

After file is uploaded and link received on server side, it should be stored in Database. Client should be subscribed to the collection where are stored links of uploaded files.

All wrapper methods

Constructor

var dbx = new DropboxApix({
	key: 'DROPBOX API KEY'
});

Debug

Debug is turned off by default. To use debug, add it to the constructor.

var dbx = new DropboxApix({
	key: 'DROPBOX API KEY',
	debug: true
});

Debug will print all actions in servers console.

Create folder

This method creates folder on Dropbox.

var params = {
    "path": "/custom-folder-name",
	"autorename": false
}

dbx.create_folder(params, function(res, err) {
	if(err) {
		console.log(err.msg);
		return;
	};

	console.log(res);
});

Create folder method will return JSON with properties:

{
	name: 'custom-folder-name',
	path_lower: '/custom-folder-name',
	path_display: '/custom-folder-name',
	id: 'id:123456xyz'
}

There is a possibility to use sub folder while uploading (if folder does not exist, will be created automatically):

var params = {
  path: '/custom-folder-name/name-of-uploaded-file.jpg',
  autorename: true
}

Upload

Upload method uploads file on Dropbox without sharing option.

var params = {
  path: '/name-of-uploaded-file.jpg',
  autorename: true
}
fs.readFile('test.jpg', function(err, contents) {
  let buffer = new Buffer(contents);
  dbx.upload(params, buffer, function(res, err) {
  	if(err) {
  		console.log(err.msg);
  		return;
  	};
  	console.log(res);
  });
});

res contains:

{
	name: 'name-of-uploaded-file.jpg',
	path_lower: '/name-of-uploaded-file.jpg',
	path_display: '/name-of-uploaded-file.jpg',
	id: 'id:123456xyz',
	client_modified: '2018-10-06T22:03:54Z',
	server_modified: '2018-10-06T22:03:54Z',
	rev: 'xyz123',
	size: 123456,
	content_hash: '123456abcdef'
}

Upload with sharing

Upload with sharing method uploads file on Dropbox and automatically shares is.

var params = {
	path: '/name-of-uploaded-file.jpg',
	autorename: true
}

fs.readFile('local-file-on-server.jpg', function(err, contents) {
	let buffer = new Buffer(contents);
	dbx.upload_with_sharing(params, buffer, function(res, err) {
		if(err) {
			console.log(err.msg);
			return;
		};
		console.log(res); // res is json with filename and link properties
	});
});

res contains:

{
	filename: <filename on server>,
	link: <direct link which should be used in HTML -> A HREF property>
}

Generate shared link

Generate shared link method generate shared link if does not exist. If it exist, just return it.

var params = {
    "path": "/already-uploaded-file.jpg"
}

dbx.generate_shared_link('already-uploaded-file.jpg', function(res, err) {
	if(err) {
		console.log(err.msg);
		return;
	};
	console.log(res);
});

res contains:

{
	filename: <filename on server>,
	link: <direct link which should be used in HTML -> A HREF property>
}

Licence

MIT

Keywords

dropbox dropbox-api dropbox-wrapper meteor meteor-api webstorage storage