One month down in 2025: How are your resolutions coming along? Check out how to get back on track here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Problem downloading file using Dropbox-provided URL
Hi 1. I'm developing an app for iOS and Android. Users can enter the url of a file they would like to download. They might choose a Dropbox url like https://www.dropbox.com/s/fzv989hz5mazhqw/Repl...
Hi Greg-DB
Hey I really appreciate the effort you and the team have put in.
What I found was:
1. Yes, curl works with the url - I switched from Mac to Windows and curl worked. Bash both times.
2. Fiddler also works with the URL.
3. My published code fails using automatic redirect. It works for you - the difference may be that I'm using Microsoft Xamarin on Mac.
4. In the second redirect, Dropbox proposes https://uc012d2e25383f12de25c9db8029.dl.dropboxusercontent.com/cd/0/get/B-Dfp2veRgmAiBVuB2GBdOb2SPrjBQh9t0CkeebfBm8SdzO4_8rntEJaHCvdDqpc6-v3DZF5AGyupcRw9SOyfq8l_wlZmj63OWNOQpPgmBUcisawx6C0OptaJHDM9IoDPKvPtxaegRX8av8D36sJb1hcObvW7harZlcWcGjIqXz0aw/file?dl=1# -- which strictly speaking is not a valid url because of the trailing #.
5. I solved the problem by handling the redirects myself and url-encoding the #.
So, Xamarin could do better. But also, Dropbox really should not be sending invalid urls. 🙂
Code below fyi.
Cheers
Bill
----------------------
httpClientHandler = new HttpClientHandler{AllowAutoRedirect = false};----------------------
try{// Here change ?dl=0 to ?dl=1 *****// webUrl = "https://www.howsmyssl.com/a/check"; // Debug - to check TLS version. It is TLS 1.2. (June 2023)HttpResponseMessage response = await httpClient.GetAsync ( webUrl );int redirectCount = 0;while ( redirectCount < 20 ){if ( response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.Redirect ){string redirectUrl;if ( response.Headers != null && response.Headers.Location != null ){if ( response.Headers.Location.IsAbsoluteUri )redirectUrl = response.Headers.Location.AbsoluteUri;else{string[] splits = webUrl.Split ('/' );redirectUrl = "https://" + splits [2] + response.Headers.Location.OriginalString;}redirectUrl = redirectUrl.Replace ( "#", "#".UrlEncode () );response = await httpClient.GetAsync ( redirectUrl );if ( response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.Redirect )break;}redirectCount++;}}using ( MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream () ){using ( Stream stream = await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync () ){stream.CopyTo ( memoryStream );}memoryStream.Seek ( 0, SeekOrigin.Begin );bytes = memoryStream.ToArray ();}return bytes;}catch ( Exception ex ){// ...}}----------------------
DB-Des
Dropbox Engineer
Dropbox EngineerYes, you should be able to download with ?dl=1.
I was unable to reproduce the reported issue, by using cURL.
Could you provide detailed steps on how to reproduce the issue you are experiencing? For example, the code snippet you are using to reproduce the issue.
About Dropbox API Support & Feedback
Find help with the Dropbox API from other developers.
