Update and Delete a File Request

Learn how to update and delete a file request.

We'll cover the following

In this lesson, we’ll encounter two very important operations within the file_requests namespace, which are the following:

  • update
  • delete_all_closed

They both require us to enable the file_requests.write permission.

Update a file request

We use the /file_requests/update endpoint to update the properties of a file request. It uses the same parameters as the create endpoint. Let’s update the title of the file request and close it.

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import requests
import json
url = "https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/file_requests/update"
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer {{TOKEN}}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}
data = {
    "id": "{{FILE_ID}}",
    "title": "Let's modify demoFileByAPI",
    "open": False
}
r = requests.request("POST",url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(data))
print(json.dumps(r.json(), indent=4))

In the code above, we see the following:

  • Lines 11–15: We assign a file request ID to the id parameter, a new title to the title parameter, and the value FALSE to the open parameter.
  • Line 17: We define the HTTP request.
  • Line 18: We print the response.

Response fields

After we’ve successfully executed the code above, the properties of the file request will be returned with updated values. Now, we’ll visit the Dropbox dashboard and select the “File requests” option, followed by the “Closed” tab. We’ll see our closed file request here.

The properties that weren’t mentioned in our call will remain unchanged—for example, the destination and description properties.

Delete all closed file requests

The /file_requests/delete_all_closed endpoint allows us to delete all file requests that have been closed. It requires us to enable the file_requests.write permission and doesn’t take any parameters.

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import requests
import json
url = "https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/file_requests/delete_all_closed"
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer {{TOKEN}}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}
data = None
r = requests.request("POST",url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(data))
print(json.dumps(r.json(), indent=4))

Response fields

The code above will delete the file that we closed in the previous section. The “Closed” tab in the “File requests” section is now empty. Let’s see some of the important response fields in the table below.

Field

Description

id

This is the unique ID of the deleted file request.

url

This is the link to the file request that will now give a 404 error.

title

This is the title of the file request.

destination

This is the path to the Dropbox folder where this file request was deleted.

description

The description of the file request