Connect to Dropbox

If you are making a data logger, or camera trap, this is definitely good news. With the right approach, you can sit in your home and data/pictures just flow to your desktop. All you need is internet connection and some Dropbox programming. With a raspberry pi or a pc, you can have your data logger or camera logger automatically upload data to your Dropbox. On a windows PC, this is nothing more than saving your data file to a folder inside your Dropbox folder. Still, constantly writing to a Drpobox file is not the best way to make use of it. You won’t be able to have a meaningful history of the file since the your data logger updates the file too many times. Also, raspberry pi doesn’t have dropbox client. So it makes sense to programmatically upload your file to Dropbox using its API or application programming interface.

I am starting a series or posts to detail how to upload files to Dropbox from within your code. This post only explains how to set things up.

Using Python, it is extremely easy to upload files to dropbox. There is only one catch, you have to set up as an app developer. Here is their logic thus how to get set up:

You have some good ideas for an app. You want to store your app’s data files on dropbox so your user can access them on any device they are using. Good idea, but how to set it up?

First you need a Dropbox account yourself. Once you’re set, log on with your web browser. You’ll see three circles on the bottom left of your window:

Clicking the dots brings up a menu. Select Developers:

Click “Create app” to create a new app. I’ve already created a couple of similar apps. It looks like I’ve been trying this camera logger idea for one too many times 😀

Make sure that you select the right options. Select “App folder” access so all your actions are contained in a folder inside the App folder. It used to be called sandbox access. You may not want this app to access your entire Dropbox folder and accidentally delete files it is not intended to touch.

Once done, you will be able to edit your project. Scroll down to find “Generated access token”. This will give you a very long alpha-numeric sequence that grants access to your Dropbox app folder, or the entire Dropbox if you chose “Full Dropbox”. Safeguard this string. If you need to ask questions about your code, remove/black out this string. Anyone with this string can do anything they want with your Dropbox app folder, no password needed. alternatively, you may try the App key and App secret path. That is a longer path than we need to take, just to show how things work.

Now you are all set to develop this app, which is probably a program that uploads data/pictures to your dropbox. Read my next post about how to access Dropbox using Python. Python is one of the least preferred language I use but there are benefits of using it. It’s quick to see results. I am a big fan of Arduino. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to upload to Dropbox using just an Arduino (except Arduino Yun).