A preview of the new Dropbox API v2 (opens in new tab)

(blogs.dropbox.com)

18 pointsleahculver10y ago8 comments

8 comments

"Overall, we’ve simplified our use of HTTP. For example, most endpoints always use HTTP POST, including those that return structured data."

Why? Why would you use a POST call for the first endpoint they demonstrate, users/get_current_account

  curl -X POST https://api.dropbox.com/2-beta/users/get_current_account \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <access-token>" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data "null"

Why not implement that as a GET-call?

smarx10y ago

Is there some benefit to implementing it as a GET instead?

Revell10y ago

Caching for one. I just don't see a reason for moving as much as possible to POST since this seems to go against what the different methods (GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc) were meant for.

2 more replies

untog10y ago

It helps to clarify what will happen. GET requests should never alter the data in the backend, wheras PUT, POST and DELETE would.

mmastrac10y ago

If it's an unauthenticated call you can use a browser, but if all the calls require a header like that, I don't see a reason to.

fapjacks10y ago

I used to love Dropbox! There are so many options nowadays, though. Oh! This reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask: Is there any way I can use this API to retrieve information about how much of my data has been handed over to the United States government?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

8 comments

Revell10y ago

"Overall, we’ve simplified our use of HTTP. For example, most endpoints always use HTTP POST, including those that return structured data."

Why? Why would you use a POST call for the first endpoint they demonstrate, users/get_current_account

  curl -X POST https://api.dropbox.com/2-beta/users/get_current_account \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <access-token>" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data "null"

Why not implement that as a GET-call?

smarx10y ago

Is there some benefit to implementing it as a GET instead?

Revell10y ago

Caching for one. I just don't see a reason for moving as much as possible to POST since this seems to go against what the different methods (GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc) were meant for.

2 more replies

untog10y ago

It helps to clarify what will happen. GET requests should never alter the data in the backend, wheras PUT, POST and DELETE would.

mmastrac10y ago

If it's an unauthenticated call you can use a browser, but if all the calls require a header like that, I don't see a reason to.

fapjacks10y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse