Box Python V2 SDK

Box Python SDK for v2 of the Box API.

Featuring:

• Automatic tokens refresh (client does not have to handle token expiration)
• Big file upload (upload by chunk and whole file is never loaded in memory)
• Chunked download

###Prerequisites

• requests

Installation

pip install boxpython

Quick Start

Authenticate

The authentication workflow is a 2-step process that first retrieves an Auth Code and then exchanges it for Access/Refresh Tokens

#####First step

>>> from boxpython import BoxAuthenticateFlow, BoxSession, BoxError
>>>
>>> flow = BoxAuthenticateFlow('<client_id>', '<client_secret>')
>>> flow.get_authorization_url()
'https://www.box.com/api/oauth2/authorize?response_type=code&client_id=<client_id>&state=authenticated'
>>>

If you dont' have a client id or client secret, you can get one here: https://app.box.com/developers/services

By going through the url provided, you can get the authorisation code.

#####Second step

>>> access_token, refresh_token = flow.get_access_tokens('<auth_code>')

The authorisation code is valid only 30 seconds. So be quick ;)

Create session

>>> def tokens_changed(refresh_token, access_token):
...    save_to_file(refresh_token, access_token)
...
>>> box = BoxSession('<client_id>', '<client_secret>', refresh_token, access_token, tokens_changed)

The Access Token expires every hour. When using this session with an Access Token expired, a new one will be requested automatically.

Use tokens_changed callback to backup Access/Refresh Token each time they change. If you do not backup them, next time you create a session, you will have to follow the authenticate flow first (with BoxAuthenticateFlow).

Get Folder Information

>>> box.get_folder_info(0)
{u'item_collection': {u'total_count': 1, u'offset': 0, u'limit': 100, u'order': [{u'direction': u'ASC', u'by': u'type'}, {u'direction': u'ASC', u'by': u'name'}], u'entries': [{u'sequence_id': u'0', u'etag': u'0', u'type': u'folder', u'id': u'1230276227'...

Create Folder

>>> response = box.create_folder('my_folder')
>>> print 'Folder ID: %s' % response['id']
Folder ID: 1230944187
>>>

Upload a New File

>>> response = box.upload_file('test.txt', 1230944187, '/tmp/test.txt')
>>> print 'File ID: %s' % response['entries'][0]['id']
File ID: 11006194629
>>>

For big files, use chunk_upload_file

Download a File

>>> box.download_file(11006194629, '/tmp/test_dl.txt')
>>>

Find Folder/File ID from Name

>>> box.find_id_in_folder('test.txt', 1230944187)
11006194629
>>>

Handling errors

>>> try:
...    box.create_folder('my_folder')
... except BoxError, berr:
...    if berr.status == 409:
...       print 'Item with same name already exists'
...    else:
...       print '%s' % berr
...
Item with same name already exists
>>>

For a complete list of error code : http://developers.box.com/docs/#errors

Automatic tokens refresh

The Access Token expires every hour. When you use BoxSession class with an Access Token expired, a new one will be requested automatically.

So if you use box.create_folder('my_folder') and the Access Token has just expired, a request to have a new one is made. As soon as the new Access Token is retrieved (with new Refresh Token too), your original request (create folder) is made. Then the repsonse of the create folder is returned.

When new Access/Refresh Token are retrieved the tokens_changed callback is called. This is the good time to backup them, so next time you instantiate BoxSession you will have valid tokens.

Documentation

Read the reference documentation

Running tests

Unit tests

python tests.py

Running end to end tests with real Box.com API

These tests do not mock Box.com API. They create a folder on your box account in which they perform tests. When you run them, they interactively ask for a client id and a secret from your Box.com account.

python tests.py BoxPythonInteractiveScenarioTest.run_full_scenario

python tests.py BoxPythonInteractiveScenarioTest.run_big_file_senario

Update Sphinx documentation

cd docs
make html

Project Status

Here is the files/folders actions available right now:

• get_folder_info
• create_folder
• delete_folder
• get_folder_items
• upload_file
• upload_new_file_version
• download_file
• copy_file
• search
• get_user_info

For my personnal use, I don't need more. Feel free to add new action with a pull request.

Adding an action is easy as:

def delete_folder(self, folder_id):
    return self.__request("DELETE",
                            "folders/%s" % (folder_id, ),
                            querystring={'recursive': 'true'})