Folder Shared Link Download/Preview Counts

11 months ago
March 26, 2024
5 replies
151 views

Kaya
New Participant
2 replies

Using the API, is there any way to get download/preview counts when you create a shared link for a folder? I can see counts on the files in the folder through the web interface, but files returned by the api don’t have shared link data which is where the counts would show if the individual files had a shared link. The shared link data related to the folder returned by the api exists, but the download/preview counts are always 0. I wasn’t really expecting them to be anything else, but those are the only counts I can find that have any value at all.

I suppose I can create a shared link of each individual file in addition to the folder, but I was hoping to avoid that.

Thanks!

rbarbosa Box
Developer Advocate
553 replies
11 months ago
March 28, 2024

Hi @Kaya , welcome to the forum!

I’m not really sure I understood your message, can you elaborate on your use case and include some examples?

Consider this shared folder from an external entity:

curl --location 'https://api.box.com/2.0/shared_items' \

--header 'boxapi: shared_link=https://nihcc.app.box.com/v/ChestXray-NIHCC' \

--header 'Authorization: Bearer u1...S' \

results in:

{

    "type": "folder",

    "id": "36938765345",

    "sequence_id": "0",

    "etag": "0",

    "name": "CXR8",

    "created_at": "2017-09-01T11:33:07-07:00",

    "modified_at": "2023-09-11T08:31:28-07:00",

    "description": "",

    "size": 45132995251,

    "path_collection": {

        "total_count": 0,

        "entries": []

    },

    "created_by": {

        "type": "user",

        "id": "1972882659",

        "name": "Summers, Ronald (NIH/CC/DRD) [e]",

        "login": "RSummers@cc.nih.gov"

    },

    "modified_by": {

        "type": "user",

        "id": "1972882659",

        "name": "Summers, Ronald (NIH/CC/DRD) [e]",

        "login": "RSummers@cc.nih.gov"

    },

    "trashed_at": null,

    "purged_at": null,

    "content_created_at": "2017-09-01T11:33:07-07:00",

    "content_modified_at": "2023-09-11T08:31:28-07:00",

    "owned_by": {

        "type": "user",

        "id": "1972882659",

        "name": "Summers, Ronald (NIH/CC/DRD) [e]",

        "login": "RSummers@cc.nih.gov"

    },

    "shared_link": null,

    "folder_upload_email": null,

    "parent": null,

    "item_status": "active"

}

Now if I get the items for the folder:

curl --location 'https://api.box.com/2.0/folders/36938765345/items' \

--header 'boxapi: shared_link=https://nihcc.app.box.com/v/ChestXray-NIHCC' \

--header 'Authorization: Bearer 7O...DIz' \

It returns:

{

    "total_count": 14,

    "entries": [

        {

            "type": "folder",

            "id": "37178474737",

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "name": "images"

        },

        {

            "type": "folder",

            "id": "174256157515",

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "name": "LongTailCXR"

        },

        {

            "type": "folder",

            "id": "223604149466",

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "name": "PruneCXR"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "939374043869",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "1013612179469",

                "sha1": "ad168537accf0020f7f6424fe23dad6fb6465a16"

            },

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "sha1": "ad168537accf0020f7f6424fe23dad6fb6465a16",

            "name": "AAA Job Opportunity!!! Cloud Computing - Masters or PhD Degree.pdf"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "1001272740624",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "1083663545424",

                "sha1": "5ca78d5de3012d0d54776a56009661e54772024c"

            },

            "sequence_id": "2",

            "etag": "2",

            "sha1": "5ca78d5de3012d0d54776a56009661e54772024c",

            "name": "AAA Physician AI Research Opportunity!!!.pdf"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "906187165990",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "1426213127952",

                "sha1": "ee9247194f1f49612d7b92cce12b53ed69cd6f2e"

            },

            "sequence_id": "1",

            "etag": "1",

            "sha1": "ee9247194f1f49612d7b92cce12b53ed69cd6f2e",

            "name": "AAA Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity!!! - NIH Medical Image Analysis Postdoc.pdf"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "256057377774",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "269917681326",

                "sha1": "51af83f0f9d49dda58c19c31e2037fcdf1c8bc8d"

            },

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "sha1": "51af83f0f9d49dda58c19c31e2037fcdf1c8bc8d",

            "name": "ARXIV_V5_CHESTXRAY.pdf"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "219760940956",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "232162176668",

                "sha1": "c567ceb25277c9883c5a7fe4c2f70c2ef94b02be"

            },

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "sha1": "c567ceb25277c9883c5a7fe4c2f70c2ef94b02be",

            "name": "BBox_List_2017.csv"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "219760887468",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "693386667425",

                "sha1": "c33382a0946e2d1510e1e005ce611f1283f929d8"

            },

            "sequence_id": "2",

            "etag": "2",

            "sha1": "c33382a0946e2d1510e1e005ce611f1283f929d8",

            "name": "Data_Entry_2017_v2020.csv"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "249502714403",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "269941556695",

                "sha1": "67a06ff686169102b3450893244528fefde1bd69"

            },

            "sequence_id": "2",

            "etag": "2",

            "sha1": "67a06ff686169102b3450893244528fefde1bd69",

            "name": "FAQ_CHESTXRAY.pdf"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "249505703122",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "693387325041",

                "sha1": "e126a4c5dd561431212fda11948a85f0f2ce4218"

            },

            "sequence_id": "4",

            "etag": "4",

            "sha1": "e126a4c5dd561431212fda11948a85f0f2ce4218",

            "name": "LOG_CHESTXRAY.pdf"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "220660789610",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "363934355357",

                "sha1": "2a131c90c074ec386597020d4e46d3661a8bc165"

            },

            "sequence_id": "2",

            "etag": "2",

            "sha1": "2a131c90c074ec386597020d4e46d3661a8bc165",

            "name": "README_CHESTXRAY.pdf"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "256055473534",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "269915769598",

                "sha1": "41b85e218abec560a2f5999acbcf333b0f2fa495"

            },

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "sha1": "41b85e218abec560a2f5999acbcf333b0f2fa495",

            "name": "test_list.txt"

        },

        {

            "type": "file",

            "id": "256056636701",

            "file_version": {

                "type": "file_version",

                "id": "269916925277",

                "sha1": "e3e1b677c01d28481777f3d84e10fcdaac05694c"

            },

            "sequence_id": "0",

            "etag": "0",

            "sha1": "e3e1b677c01d28481777f3d84e10fcdaac05694c",

            "name": "train_val_list.txt"

        }

    ],

    "offset": 0,

    "limit": 100,

    "order": [

        {

            "by": "type",

            "direction": "ASC"

        },

        {

            "by": "name",

            "direction": "ASC"

        }

    ]

}

With a total count of 14, but these would include files and folders.

Help us understand your use case a bit better.

Best regards

Kaya
Author
New Participant
2 replies
11 months ago
March 29, 2024

I’m not looking for the number of files. I’m trying to get preview/download counts for the files within a folder that has a shared link. Those counts appear to be properties of the shared link object which are always 0 for the folder’s shared link. The shared link object is null for each file unless they also have a shared link explicitly created for them. Thanks!

rbarbosa Box
Developer Advocate
553 replies
11 months ago
April 2, 2024

I’m so sorry @Kaya , seems I’ve completely missed your point.

Having said that, you are kind of stuck, the only way to get that information using the API is via the shared link it self, when explicitly created.

Not sure what your exact use case is, however, in the administration console there are quite a few reports related with content:

Perhaps you can explore some of them and see if any fits your needs.

Here is some documentation on the admin reports.

Let us know if this helps

Best regards

Kaya
Author
New Participant
2 replies
11 months ago
April 3, 2024

No problem! I was actually able to find what I needed in the Enterprise Events api. I could count PREVIEW and DOWNLOAD events where the parent id was the folder I had shared. I’ll just need to download/persist the data elsewhere since it says it only tracks on the past year.

rbarbosa Box
Developer Advocate
553 replies
11 months ago
April 3, 2024

Hi @Kaya

Awesome that you found a workaround.

Speaking of persisting the data elsewhere…

If you want you could store those numbers as metadata on the files/folders, not sure if it fits your use case though.

Also not sure how familiar you are with Box metadata, so allow me to share an article around this topic, although not your use case, it does illustrate metadata capabilities.

Let us know if you have an interest in exploring this possibility.

Best regards

Reply

Rich Text Editor, editor1

Cookie policy

We use cookies to enhance and personalize your experience. If you accept you agree to our full cookie policy. Learn more about our cookies.

Cookie settings

We use 3 different kinds of cookies. You can choose which cookies you want to accept. We need basic cookies to make this site work, therefore these are the minimum you can select. Learn more about our cookies.

Basic
Functional

Normal
Functional + analytics

Complete
Functional + analytics + social media + embedded videos

Reply

Related topics

Box sign template problemicon

404 Error When Adding Sign Templateicon

Sender and Signer fields indistinguishable

Introducing: Template APIs for Box Sign!

Box Sign API Template Signers do not include label field in SDK'sicon

Most helpful members this week

Sign up

Login with SSO

Login to the community

Login with SSO

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded

Cookie policy

Cookie settings