(VB.NET) Dropbox: Access Your Own Account

To programmatically interact with your own Dropbox account, such as for uploading, downloading, listing files, etc., go to the Dropbox app console and create an application. Then generate an access token in the online app console as shown in the screenshot below. The access token does not expire, and can be used to access your own account from your own non-web application.

The example code, located below the screenshot, shows how to list the files in the root folder.

Chilkat .NET Downloads Chilkat .NET Framework Chilkat for .NET Core

' This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
' See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

Dim rest As New Chilkat.Rest

' Connect to the www.dropbox.com endpoint.
Dim bTls As Boolean = True
Dim port As Integer = 443
Dim bAutoReconnect As Boolean = True
Dim success As Boolean = rest.Connect("api.dropboxapi.com",port,bTls,bAutoReconnect)
If (success <> True) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(rest.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


rest.AddHeader("Content-Type","application/json")
rest.AddHeader("Authorization","Bearer DROPBOX-ACCESS-TOKEN")

Dim json As New Chilkat.JsonObject
' The root folder should be an empty string, not "/"
json.AppendString("path","")
json.AppendBool("recursive",False)
json.AppendBool("include_media_info",False)
json.AppendBool("include_deleted",False)
json.AppendBool("include_has_explicit_shared_members",False)

Dim responseStr As String = rest.FullRequestString("POST","/2/files/list_folder",json.Emit())
If (rest.LastMethodSuccess <> True) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(rest.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


' Success is indicated by a 200 response status code.
If (rest.ResponseStatusCode <> 200) Then
    ' Examine the request/response to see what happened.
    Debug.WriteLine("response status code = " & rest.ResponseStatusCode)
    Debug.WriteLine("response status text = " & rest.ResponseStatusText)
    Debug.WriteLine("response header: " & rest.ResponseHeader)
    Debug.WriteLine("response body (if any): " & responseStr)
    Debug.WriteLine("---")
    Debug.WriteLine("LastRequestStartLine: " & rest.LastRequestStartLine)
    Debug.WriteLine("LastRequestHeader: " & rest.LastRequestHeader)
    Exit Sub
End If


Dim jsonResponse As New Chilkat.JsonObject
jsonResponse.Load(responseStr)

jsonResponse.EmitCompact = False
Debug.WriteLine(jsonResponse.Emit())

' A sample JSON response is shown at the end of this example.
' The following code iterates over the entries.
Dim numEntries As Integer = jsonResponse.SizeOfArray("entries")
Dim i As Integer = 0
While i < numEntries
    jsonResponse.I = i
    Debug.WriteLine("----")
    Debug.WriteLine("name: " & jsonResponse.StringOf("entries[i].name"))
    Debug.WriteLine("path_lower: " & jsonResponse.StringOf("entries[i].path_lower"))
    Debug.WriteLine("path_display: " & jsonResponse.StringOf("entries[i].path_display"))
    If (jsonResponse.HasMember("entries[i].sharing_info") = True) Then
        Debug.WriteLine("has sharing_info...")
        Debug.WriteLine("read_only: " & jsonResponse.StringOf("entries[i].sharing_info.read_only"))
        Debug.WriteLine("shared_folder_id: " & jsonResponse.StringOf("entries[i].sharing_info.shared_folder_id"))
    End If

    If (jsonResponse.HasMember("entries[i].client_modified") = True) Then
        ' Demonstrate how to parse a date/time:
        Dim ckdt As New Chilkat.CkDateTime
        success = ckdt.SetFromTimestamp(jsonResponse.StringOf("entries[i].client_modified"))
        ' The date/time can now be converted to many other formats, or the individual parts
        ' can be accessed.
        Dim bLocalDateTime As Boolean = True
        Dim dt As Chilkat.DtObj = ckdt.GetDtObj(bLocalDateTime)
        Debug.WriteLine(dt.Year & "-" & dt.Month & "-" & dt.Day)

    End If

    i = i + 1
End While

Debug.WriteLine("Success.")

' {
'   "entries": [
'     {
'       ".tag": "folder",
'       "name": "chilkat Team Folder",
'       "path_lower": "/chilkat team folder",
'       "path_display": "/chilkat Team Folder",
'       "id": "id:2VqX9RLr-JAAAAAAAAAAAQ",
'       "shared_folder_id": "1210954290",
'       "sharing_info": {
'         "read_only": false,
'         "shared_folder_id": "1210954290"
'       }
'     },
'     {
'       ".tag": "file",
'       "name": "Get Started with Dropbox.pdf",
'       "path_lower": "/get started with dropbox.pdf",
'       "path_display": "/Get Started with Dropbox.pdf",
'       "id": "id:oxE2oMDqH4AAAAAAAAAAAQ",
'       "client_modified": "2016-05-07T11:47:47Z",
'       "server_modified": "2016-05-07T11:47:47Z",
'       "rev": "1483db13f",
'       "size": 692088
'     }
'   ],
'   "cursor": "AAEnZXciJyS4gzC_tlX6K2na4c8o7_09-dxmXKHpkPPyf3Kl0H4N-VYnz424nCrFOJuhMiM5_RgNAersumx9qe7NgCSdlppr80iFk0gf6vPlecM6SBtLcs6OYXL8ILWiZ62pfnOvgC3WKGlG6dqZ-VXH",
'   "has_more": false
' }
'