PHP and Dropbox. Remote storage of user files

Application

Quite often, when developing web applications, you have to think about the organization of a stable storage of user files. And if at the same time we are limited by disk space, then the creation of file sharing of moderate severity, and even with the backup of them, greatly puzzles us.

Decision

As a solution, I suggest the PHP <-> Dropbox scheme. Dropbox is interesting to us because 2Gb of virtual disk space is allocated to each new user, as well as the ability to roll back to previous versions of files. This provides us with a stable repository, in which there will be no cases of permanently deleted files.

Customization

Training

First we need to add the Oauth library to PHP:

sudo pecl install oauth 

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If an error occurs during compilation, then put the developer version of PECL :

 sudo apt-get install libpcre3-dev 

Then add to php.ini:
extension=oauth.so

Installation

For further work, we need to download the library to work with Dropbox in PHP. After downloading, unpack the Dropbox folder from the archive into the scripts directory of our application, place the files from the examples folder nearby. With these examples, I will show you how to:

• create a new dropbox account
• upload files to dropbox account
• receive these files
• delete files

Job

Immediately I will warn you that we need an account on Dropbox to work, through which we will register our new application and get the keys for it. You can register on the Dropbox site. After registration, visit the developer section and add your new application. You will receive App keys (Key and Secret) that will allow our application to work with Dropbox.

Create user

Now open the createaccount.php file that you unpacked next to the Dropbox folder. Set values ​​for the consumerKey and consumerSecret variables:

 $consumerKey = ''; //  Key,  Dropbox $consumerSecret = ''; //  Secret,  Dropbox 

Now set the necessary parameters of the createAccount () function:

 var_dump($dropbox->createAccount('mrhandsome@example.org','Mr','Handsome','password goes here')); 

Run this script and, thereby, you will create a new account on Dropbox (for example, for a new user of your site).

Upload a file to Dropbox

Now, to upload the file to the repository of the created user, you need to create a new script:

 <?php $consumerKey = ''; //  Key,  Dropbox $consumerSecret = ''; //  Secret,  Dropbox include 'Dropbox/autoload.php'; $oauth = new Dropbox_OAuth_PHP($consumerKey, $consumerSecret); $dropbox = new Dropbox_API($oauth); //  $tokens = $dropbox->getToken('mrhandsome@example.org', 'secretpassword'); $oauth->setToken($tokens); $h = fopen('/local/path/to/file','r'); //    $dropbox->putFile('newPath.txt',$h); //  ?> 

Downloading a file from Dropbox

To download a file, create a script with the same content, but instead of the putFile () function, we use getFile ();

 echo( $dropbox->getFile('newPath.txt') ); 

Delete files on Dropbox

To delete by analogy, use delete ();

 $dropbox->delete('newPath.txt'); 

Account statistics

To monitor free space on Dropbox, use the following:

 var_dump($dropbox->getAccountInfo()); 

This method provides statistics on the user and the occupied disk space. I think that 2Gb for the user's personal files is quite enough, but if he still fills it, you can warn the user that he will soon have to delete something.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to add that I have listed only the most basic functions. I recommend to familiarize yourself with the Dropbox API for PHP in order to use the maximum integration capabilities.