Box Java SDK Retrieve acces/refresh tokens - box

Question

I am trying to create a java program that will search for certain files in Box Storage. For this i am trying to use the Box Java SDK and i created an application in Box (https://app.box.com/developers/services).
When i use the developer token i am able to traverse through my box parent/child folders. Since this token is valid for 60 mins i want to programmatically retrieve and set the token. When i looked at the manuals it says to manully call api's to get these tokens.
I tried the below code..
BoxAPIConnection api = new BoxAPIConnection(clientid,clientsecret);
String accesstoken = api.getAccessToken();
String refreshtoken = api.getRefreshToken();
I dont want to throw a box login page to the user and want to run this program as a daemon which will search files and spit out some report text file.
Thanks for all the help.

Answer 1

It is possible to manage Box login through code.
For the first time you access Box.com and get the client id, client secret, access token and refresh token.
Save it in DB or property file.
Use below code, and each and every time update the actual access and refresh token.
String accessToken = // access token from DB/property
String refreshToken = // refresh token from DB/property
String boxClientId = // client id from DB/property
String boxClientSecret = // client secret from DB/property
try {
BoxAPIConnection api = new BoxAPIConnection(boxClientId, boxClientSecret, accessToken, refreshToken);
api.addListener(new BoxAPIConnectionListener() {
#Override
public void onRefresh(BoxAPIConnection api) {
String newAccessToken = api.getAccessToken();
String newrefreshToken = api.getRefreshToken();
// update new access and refresh token in DB/property
}
#Override
public void onError(BoxAPIConnection api, BoxAPIException error) {
LOGGER.error("Error in Box account details. " + error.getMessage());
}
});
LOGGER.debug("Completed Box authentication");
} catch (Exception e) {
LOGGER.error("Error in Box authentication. Error msg : " + e.getMessage());
}

Answer 2

If you use a state.conf file, you'll be able to refresh the token/refres_token pair programmatically without getting an auth code. Here's a code snippet that I use:
private static BoxAPIConnection getBoxAPIConnection(String client_id, String client_secret, String token, String refresh_token, String stateConfPath) {
String state = null;
try {
logger.info("Getting state.conf: " + stateConfPath + "/state.conf");
InputStream fis = new FileInputStream(stateConfPath + "/state.conf");
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fis, Charset.forName("UTF-8"));
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
state = br.readLine();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException f) {
try {
// create file if it doesn't exist
PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(stateConfPath + "/state.conf", "UTF-8");
writer.println("");
writer.close();
}
catch (Exception w) {
logger.fatal("Exception", w);
}
}
catch (IOException e) {
logger.fatal("IOException", e);
}
BoxAPIConnection api = null;
//if (null == state || "".equals(state)) {
if (!token.equals("") && !refresh_token.equals("")) {
api = new BoxAPIConnection(client_id, client_secret, token, refresh_token);
} else {
logger.info("Restoring state..." + state);
api = BoxAPIConnection.restore(client_id, client_secret, state);
if (api.needsRefresh()) { // this is not a reliable call. It can still throw a 401 below
logger.info("api refreshing...");
api.refresh();
}
else {
logger.info("api good...");
}
}
return api;
}