App Console

Creating a Dropbox app

The DBX Platform developer portal can be found at www.dropbox.com/developers. Here you can create and manage your DBX Platform apps, browse documentation and examples, and download SDKs for popular languages.

Let’s start by creating a new app. After navigating to the developer portal, click App Console.

Here you can manage your app properties and settings. If this is your first time here, things probably look a little barren. Let’s fix that by clicking Create app.

You’ll see a wizard that will walk you through creating a new app.

Your permission and access type determine which API calls and data your app can access. Read more about app permissions in the developer guide.

For our first example app, lets select App folder access.

When selecting a name, be sure to review the naming guidelines in the Branding Guide to avoid any possible issues or conflicts. Once you have a name that meets the guidelines, go ahead and click Create app.

Navigating the App Console

Once your app has been created, you’ll be taken to the App Console:

The App Console is broken into four primary sections: Settings, Permissions, Branding, and Analytics. Let’s take a look at all four.

Settings

The settings tab contains important information about the configuration of your app. You’ll see items like your app key and secret which are required to perform OAuth authentication, as well the ability to apply for production status, and to delete your app entirely. Here’s a quick rundown of each major section within the settings tab:

Status

Displays the current status of your app as either Development or Production. By default, all apps are created in the development state, which limits the total number of users who can access your app during early development.

When you’re ready to release your app publicly, you can request a review by clicking the Apply for Production button. Your app will undergo a production readiness review by Dropbox and will either be approved or denied. If your app is denied, feedback will be provided so that you can correct any issues and resubmit for production review. For information and guidance on having a seamless transition from development to production status, please review the production approval section of the DBX Platform developer guide.

Development users

Initially, your new app will only be authorized for you. Clicking ‘Enable additional users’ will allow a limited number of additional users to link to you application for testing or internal use. You’ll need to apply for production to allow a larger audience to link your app.

Permission type

Displays the level of access your app will have to any linked Dropbox account. For non-Business API apps this can be either App folder or Full Dropbox. Business API permissions are described in the Access types section of the Business API reference documentation. Scoped apps have more granular control over what functionality they can access. You can more information on scopes in the OAuth Guide.

App folder name

If you’ve selected App folder access permissions for your app, this field will be present. By default this will be the same as your app name. You can use the Change button to modify the folder name that will be created for your app. Just be mindful that the new name respects all of the conditions put forth in the ‘Production Approval’ section of the DBX Platform developer guide and is not misleading or confusing to end users.

App key/App secret

These are values that uniquely identify your app. When you implement OAuth app authorization, you’ll use these values as part of the authorization flow.

OAuth 2

This area contains items that allow you to configure various portions of the OAuth authorization flow for your app.

• Redirect URIs. These are the allowable URIs that your app can redirect to after a user has granted access. Redirection to any URI not specified here will not be allowed.
• Allow implicit grant. This setting determines whether or not the ‘token’ flow can be used for this app. If your app is running client-side leave this as-is. If not, you should disable this feature. For more information about implicit grant see: IETF RFC6749
• Generated access token. This can be used to automatically complete app authorization against your Dropbox account and provide an access token you can start using immediately for testing. Once you move beyond the testing phase you will need to enable an OAuth flow for authorization.

Chooser/Saver/Embedder domains

If you are making use of the Chooser, Saver, or Embedder you’ll need to specify the domains from which you’re hosting them here. This ensures that other websites cannot embed the Chooser, Saver, or Embedder and impersonate your app.

Webhooks

Webhooks allow you to have Dropbox notify your server when content inside a user’s Dropbox changes. This is useful if you want to initiate a workflow to process newly added or modified content. If you’d like to enable this functionality within your app you should review the webhooks reference documentation.

Delete app

When the time has come to say goodbye, this is where you can remove your app. If you need to change the access type of your app (e.g., moving from App folder to Full Dropbox), you’ll need to delete the existing app and create a new one with the desired access type.

Permissions

The Permissions tab allows you to enable and disable specific scopes for your app. The scopes enabled for your app determine what API functionality your app can use, such as reading file data, changing sharing settings, etc.

Branding

The Branding tab allows you to configure information and icons displayed to end users during the authorization process. This information is also used during the production approval process and must adhere to the rules provided in the Branding Guide.

App name

While your app is in development status, you can use this to change your app name. All requirements at app creation time still apply, as do any limitations imposed by the Branding Guide and Developer Terms and Conditions. If your app has been approved for production status and you need to make a name change, you’ll need to request it through the developer contact page.

Publisher

The name of the company or individual distributing the app.

Description

A brief summary of the functionality of the app.

App website

The URL of app/publisher website.

App icons

Use this to upload a small and large icon for your app.

Analytics

The Analytics tab is where developers can monitor the usage and growth of their app.

Summary

At this point we’ve created our first Dropbox app and explored the App Console to configure and monitor our app. The next step in building our app is to examine the API reference documentation and test some endpoints so we can start designing the functionality of the expense organizer app.