box-sdk python or CURL to check if a folder exists using Folder Name

Question

I need to upload a file to a folder inside box. I chose python to implement this logic at server side.

But I find that box-sdk python doesn't supports to check if a folder exists with its name? Is there any way to check if a folder exists just with its name rather than Id ?

Answer 1

There in fact a way to search by exact name, however sometimes it could be an access issue. consider this python script:

from boxsdk import JWTAuth, Client

class CFG:
    """config class"""
    JWT_CONFIG_FILE = ".jwt.config.json"
    AS_USER = "18622116055"
    PARENT_FOLDER_ID = "0"  # folder id 0 is root folder

def get_box_client(as_user: bool = False):
    """get a box client"""
    auth = JWTAuth.from_settings_file(CFG.JWT_CONFIG_FILE)
    service_client = Client(auth)
    if not as_user:
        return service_client
    user = service_client.user(CFG.AS_USER)
    return service_client.as_user(user)

def print_items(items):
    """print items"""
    print("\n")
    print("Type\tID\tName")
    print("----\t--\t----")
    for item in items:
        print(f"{item.type}\t{item.id}\t{item.name}\t")

def main():
    """main function"""

    client = get_box_client(as_user=True)

    # print current user info
    user = client.user().get()
    print(f"Current User: {user.name}\tid:{user.id}")

    # this will check if the user has access to the folder
    # and can see its content

    items = client.folder(CFG.PARENT_FOLDER_ID).get_items()
    print_items(items)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()
    print("\n")
    print("-" * 80)
    print("All Done!")

Resulting in:

Type    ID      Name
----    --      ----
folder  172759373899    Barduino User Folder
folder  172599089223    Bookings
folder  162833533610    Box Reports
folder  163422716106    Box UI Elements Demo
folder  191176042455    Bulk Upload
folder  189803765719    ClassificationService
folder  185583279315    Internal Only Folder
folder  184121760895    it@plastimould.com - Managed User A Files and Folders
folder  184901009434    malware-test-files
folder  191494027812    Media Samples
folder  156592455267    My Box Notes
folder  157064745449    My Sign Requests
folder  157065079893    My Signed Documents
folder  165803865043    Preview Samples
folder  172796453399    Shared Folder Public
folder  172797684789    Shared Folder Test
folder  172800574368    Shared with JWT
folder  169427162522    UI Elements Demo
file    1010742636771   This is a box note.boxnote
web_link        22625801630     Shared Folder - GBP Order Forms

This establishes that the security context of the script impersonating a user, can list the contents of the root folder and it has an assortment of files, folder and even a web link.

Now let's search the string 'Box' and return only folders:

# Find the string Box and return only folders
query = "Box"
items = client.search().query(query, type="folder")
print_items(items)

Resulting in:

Type    ID      Name
----    --      ----
folder  163422716106    Box UI Elements Demo
folder  162833533610    Box Reports
folder  156592455267    My Box Notes
folder  163436720758    Uploads
folder  168248338385    test
folder  170836397950    Box-Dive-Waiver.pdf 2022-08-29 11.51.08
folder  170839228830    Box-Dive-Waiver (3).pdf 2022-08-29 12.11.44
folder  170839433786    Box-Dive-Waiver (4).pdf 2022-08-29 12.15.50
folder  157065079893    My Signed Documents
folder  172959716319    Test
folder  157540513307    BoxAPISingDemoDoc-1646332428797 (1).pdf 2022-03-03 12.19.02
folder  157543073537    BoxAPISingDemoDoc (1).pdf 2022-03-03 12.37.07
folder  157548515146    BoxAPISingDemoDoc (2).pdf 2022-03-03 14.11.24
folder  170836837536    Waiver_Template (6).pdf 2022-08-29 11.36.55
folder  170837067919    Waiver_Template (1).pdf 2022-08-29 11.36.11
folder  170835809391    Waiver_Template (3).pdf 2022-08-29 11.36.26
folder  170835510039    Waiver (2).pdf 2022-08-29 11.35.48
folder  170835829493    Waiver_Template (5).pdf 2022-08-29 11.36.46
folder  170835528770    Waiver_Template (4).pdf 2022-08-29 11.36.37
folder  170836924218    Waiver_Template.pdf 2022-08-29 11.36.02
folder  170835861857    Waiver_Template (2).pdf 2022-08-29 11.36.18
folder  170824922599    Waiver (1).pdf 2022-08-29 08.25.56
folder  169879976942    Single Page.pdf 2022-08-16 14.28.21

At least we only got folders this time...

So what is going on here?

Box search looks for the string in many places, including, name, description, tags, and inside the content it self.

Note that it found folders that are not direct descendants of the root folder, since we did not specify an ancestor folder. However it can be done, and might be useful for your use case. Just specify the ancestor_folders="a_folder_id" as a query argument.

Let's limit the search of the string only to name:

# Find the string Box only in name field
query = "Box"
items = client.search().query(
    query,
    type="folder",
    content_types=("name",), # funky iterable str
)

Resulting in:

Type    ID      Name
----    --      ----
folder  163422716106    Box UI Elements Demo
folder  162833533610    Box Reports
folder  156592455267    My Box Notes
folder  170836397950    Box-Dive-Waiver.pdf 2022-08-29 11.51.08
folder  170839228830    Box-Dive-Waiver (3).pdf 2022-08-29 12.11.44
folder  170839433786    Box-Dive-Waiver (4).pdf 2022-08-29 12.15.50
folder  157540513307    BoxAPISingDemoDoc-1646332428797 (1).pdf 2022-03-03 12.19.02
folder  157543073537    BoxAPISingDemoDoc (1).pdf 2022-03-03 12.37.07
folder  157548515146    BoxAPISingDemoDoc (2).pdf 2022-03-03 14.11.24

As you can see these have the string Box in the name. Finally we can request an exact match for the string in the name:

# Find the exact match only in name field
query = '"My Box Notes"'
items = client.search().query(
    query,
    type="folder",
    content_types=("name",),
)

Final result:

Type    ID      Name
----    --      ----
folder  156592455267    My Box Notes

Of course if in the example if 'My Box Notes' existed in another folder level it would show up multiple times.