Using Dropbox with IBM App Connect Enterprise

Dropbox is a secure web-based file-sharing service that helps your team collaborate. You can create and edit documents with your colleagues in real time from anywhere and on any device.

1. In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, create a flow that contains a Dropbox Request node.
2. Select the Dropbox Request node in the flow to show the node properties in the editor.
3. On the Basic tab, click Launch Connector Discovery.
   A panel is displayed in which you specify the name of the policy project and vault details to be used during connector discovery.
4. Specify the details of the policy project and vault to be used during connector discovery:
   1. In the Policy Project field, specify the policy project that is used to store the policies that are created during connector discovery.
      Alternatively, you can create a new policy project by clicking New and then specifying the name of the new policy project. Then click Finish.
   2. Specify the vault to be used during connector discovery. By default, credentials that are used during connector discovery are stored in an external directory vault, which is an App Connect Enterprise vault that can be used by any integration server. Alternatively, you can store the credentials in an integration server vault, which is created in the integration server's work directory and can be used only by that specific integration server.
      To specify the vault to be used for storing the credentials, complete the steps in the Using the Connector Discovery wizard section of one of the following topics:

      • Configuring a shared vault
      • Configuring an integration server vault
   3. In the Vault key field, enter the vault key that is used to access the credentials stored in the vault. The vault key must be at least 8 characters in length.
   4. Optional: By default, the specified vault location and vault key are saved as preferences in the Toolkit so that the values are preset when you launch Connector Discovery. If you do not want the preferences to be saved, deselect Save in vault preferences.
5. Click Launch Discovery to start the Connector Discovery wizard for the Dropbox connector.
   The Connector Discovery window is displayed. If existing Dropbox connections (accounts) are available, a list of those connections is displayed. If there are no existing connections, the status of the Dropbox connector is shown as Not connected.
   • If one or more Dropbox connections (accounts) are available, complete the following steps:
     1. Select the connection (account) that you want to use by clicking it.
     2. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on the object. For example, to download file content from Dropbox, click Download file content.
   • If there are no existing connections (accounts), complete the following steps:
     1. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on that object. For example, to download file content from Dropbox, click Download file content.
     2. Click Connect.
        A window is displayed in which you enter the connection details for your Dropbox account. Enter the following information:

        • Access token: Specify either the long-lived or short-lived access token. To generate these values, start by creating an application in the Dropbox console.
        • Refresh token: Specify the refresh token that is generated along with the short-lived access token. You can obtain the short-lived and refresh tokens pair by performing the Dropbox OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow steps. This property is only required if you provided the short-lived access token.
        • Client ID: The app key found in the settings page of your Dropbox application. This property is only required if you provided the short-lived access token.
        • Client secret:The app secret found in the settings page of your Dropbox application. This property is only required if you provided the short-lived access token.
        
        

        For more information about identifying or generating these connection details, see How to use IBM App Connect with Dropbox in the IBM App Connect Enterprise as a Service documentation.

     3. Click Connect.
6. Set the required connector properties in the wizard.
   You can add conditions for the retrieval of the data, by clicking Add condition and then selecting the property that you want to filter on. For example, you can download file content for a specified file. You can also set properties that specify the maximum number of records to retrieve and the action to be taken if that limit is exceeded.
7. When you have finished specifying the properties in the Connector Discovery wizard, click Save.
   The credential that is used for connecting to Dropbox is stored in the vault, and the other connection details are saved in the DropBox policy . The values of the properties that you set in the wizard are returned to the Dropbox Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
8. When you have finished specifying the connector properties in the Dropbox Connector wizard, click Save.
9. The values of the connector properties that you set in the wizard are returned to the Dropbox Request node and are displayed on the Basic tab of the node.

   The values of the Action and Object properties are displayed in read-only format. If you want to change these values, you can do so by clicking Launch Connector Discovery again and setting new values in the Connector Discovery wizard.

   The Schema base name property specifies the base name of the schema files that describe the format of the request and response messages that are sent and received from the Dropbox connector. The schema base name is set automatically the first time that you run discovery for the node, and it is based on the current flow name and node name. If you set this property manually before you run discovery for the first time, the value that you set is used. If you rename the schemas after discovery, you must edit this property so that it matches the schema base name that is used by the renamed schemas in the project. If you change this property after discovery, you must either rename the schema names to match or run discovery again.

   Depending on the action that was selected during discovery, the Connector Discovery wizard generates either a request schema and a response schema, or a response schema only. A request schema is generated only if the selected action and object require a request message. The generated request schema is used for validation of the request message. If the action was RETRIEVE or DELETE, only the response schema is returned by the connector.

   The generated schema files are added to the project and can be used by a Mapping node for transforming input or output data. The full filename of the schema is derived from the schema base name (such as gen/MyMessageFlow.Dropbox_Request), suffixed with either response.schema.json or request.schema.json. You can open the schema by clicking Open request schema or Open response schema.

10. Check that the property settings on the Dropbox Request node are correct and then save the message flow.
11. On the Connection tab of the Dropbox Request node, select the policy that contains the details of the security identity to be used for the connection. The policy has a type of DropBox and is defined in a policy project.
12. Optional: Set the Timeout property on the Connection tab to specify the time (in seconds) that the node waits for Dropbox to process the operation.
13. On the Request tab, set the Data location property to specify the location in the incoming message tree that contains the object data to be created in Dropbox. This data forms the request that is sent from the Dropbox Request node to the Dropbox system.
14. On the Result tab, set the Output data location property to specify the location in the output message tree to contain the data of the record that is created in Dropbox.
15. On the Filter tab, specify the filter properties that you want to use.
    The filter properties control which objects are to be operated upon when the Dropbox Request node executes. The structure of the filter options is defined using the Connector Discovery wizard, but you can modify the values that are used in the comparison by using the Edit button.

    The property value can be either a text value or an ESQL or XPATH expression that is resolved from the contents of the message that is passed to the Dropbox Request node as it executes.

16. By default, request messages are validated against the request schema that was generated during connector discovery. You can turn off request validation or change the validation settings by using the Validation properties of the Dropbox Request node.
17. Save the message flow.