Dropbox Connector for Alteryx : List files and folders via SQL

Learn how to list files and folders using the Dropbox Connector for Alteryx. This connector enables you to read and write Dropbox data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate files and folders — almost no coding required. We'll walk you through the exact setup.

Let's dive in!

Create data source using Dropbox ODBC Driver

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack (if you haven't already).

2. Search for odbc and open the ODBC Data Sources (64-bit):

   

3. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on the ZappySys API Driver driver:

   ZappySys API Driver

   
   • Create and use a User DSN if the client application runs under a User Account. This is the ideal option at design time (e.g., when developing in Visual Studio). Use it for both types of applications (64-bit and 32-bit).
   • Create and use a System DSN if the client application runs under a System Account (e.g., as a Windows Service). This is usually the required option in a production environment. If your Windows Service is a 32-bit application, you must use the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure this

4. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Dropbox" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Dropbox" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

   DropboxDSN

   Dropbox

   

5. Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

   User Account

   Dropbox authentication

   To use OAuth authentication, firstly, you need to create OAuth application:

   1. Log into your Dropbox account.
   2. Go to Dropbox My Apps.
   3. Then press Create app button to create a new app:
   4. Once a new page opens, select Scoped access option:
   5. Next, select Full Dropbox to access all files and folders or App folder to access specific folder's files and folders option.
   6. Continue by giving your app a name.
   7. Then check I agree to Dropbox API Terms and Conditions checkbox.
   8. Click Create app button.
   9. Once a new page opens, click Enable additional teams and Enable additional users buttons:
   10. Then copy App key and App secret and copy paste them into your favorite text editor (you will need them later).
   11. Proceed by setting a Redirect URI and clicking Add button.

       NOTE: If you don't have a working Redirect URI, you can use https://zappysys.com/oauth (it's safe).

   12. Then click on Permissions tab and select application scopes:
   13. Select all Individual Scopes and Team Scopes if you want to manage team data.
   14. Click Submit button.
   15. Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source and in User Account authentication set these parameters:
       1. For ClientId field use App key value.
       2. For ClientSecret field use App secret value.
       3. For ReturnUrl field use Redirect URI value.
   16. Done! Now you are ready to use Dropbox Connector!

   NOTE: If you are planning to use your current data connection/token for automated processes, we recommend that you use a generic account for token generation when the login box appears (e.g. sales_automation@mycompany.com instead of bob_smith@mycompany.com). When you use a personal account which is tied to a specific employee profile and that employee leaves the company, the token may become invalid and any automated processes using that token will fail. Another potentially unwanted effect of using a personal token is incorrect logging; the API calls (e.g. Read, Edit, Delete, Upload) made with that token will record the specific user as performing the calls instead of an automated process.

   API Connection Manager configuration

   Just perform these simple steps to finish authentication configuration:

   1. Set Authentication Type to User Account [OAuth]
   2. Optional step. Modify API Base URL if needed (in most cases default will work).
   3. Fill in all the required parameters and set optional parameters if needed.
   4. Press Generate Token button to generate the tokens.
   5. Finally, hit OK button:

   DropboxDSN

   Dropbox

   User Account [OAuth]

   https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/

   Required Parameters
   UseCustomApp	Fill-in the parameter...
   ReturnUrl	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   ClientId
   ClientSecret
   Scope
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

6. Then go to Preview tab to start building a SQL query.

7. Once you do that, proceed by opening Query Builder:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Dropbox

   Read and write Dropbox data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate files and folders — almost no coding required.

   DropboxDSN

   

8. Then simply select the List files and folders endpoint (action).

9. Continue by configuring the Required parameters. You can also set optional parameters too.

10. Move on by hitting Preview Data button to preview the results.

11. If you see the results you need, simply copy the generated query:

    List files and folders

    Optional Parameters
    Path
    Recursively scan subfolders	false
    Advanced Properties
    Filter by item type	$.entries[*]
    FirstPageBodyPart
    NextPageBodyPart
    NextUrlAttributeOrExpr	$.cursor
    StopIndicatorAttributeOrExpr	$.has_more
    NextUrlEndIndicator	false
    EnablePageTokenForBody	True
    HasDifferentNextPageInfo	True
    PagePlaceholders	url=|/continue

    SELECT *
    FROM list_folder

    

12. Click OK to use built SQL query and close the Query Builder.

13. Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in Alteryx:

    

    ZappySys API Driver - Dropbox

    Read and write Dropbox data effortlessly. Integrate, manage, and automate files and folders — almost no coding required.

    DropboxDSN

    SELECT *
    FROM list_folder

    
    You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.
    A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Dropbox API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Dropbox servers).

Let's not stop here and explore SQL query examples, including how to use them in Stored Procedures and Views (virtual tables) in the next steps.

Dropbox SQL query examples

Use these SQL queries in your Alteryx data source:

List folders and files within a folder

Returns entries (files and subfolders) in the given folder. Specify the folder path in the WITH clause or leave defaults to list from root. Use this to browse or feed path options into other operations.

SELECT *
FROM list_folder

List folders and files recursively

Lists all files and folders under the given path, including all nested subfolders. Set Recursive='true' and the folder Path to scan.

SELECT *
FROM list_folder
WITH (Path='/myfolder/subfolder'
     ,Recursive='true')

Create SQL view in ODBC data source

ZappySys API Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

If you're dealing with Microsoft Access and need to import data from an SQL query, it's important to note that Access doesn't allow direct import of SQL queries. Instead, you can create custom objects (Virtual Tables) to handle the import process.

Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 URLs with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting.

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Table:
   

2. Enter the desired Table name and click on OK:
   

3. And it will open the New Query Window Click on Cancel to close that window and go to Custom Objects Tab.

4. Select the created table, Select Text Type AS SQL and write the your desired SQL Query and Save it and it will create the custom table in the ZappySys Driver:
   Here is an example SQL query for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders also. Read more about placeholders here
   

   SELECT
     "ShipCountry",
     "OrderID",
     "CustomerID",
     "EmployeeID",
     "OrderDate",
     "RequiredDate",
     "ShippedDate",
     "ShipVia",
     "Freight",
     "ShipName",
     "ShipAddress",
     "ShipCity",
     "ShipRegion",
     "ShipPostalCode"
   FROM "Orders"
   Where "ShipCountry"='USA'

   
   

5. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your custom virtual table query. In this example it will extract the orders for the USA Shipping Country only:

   SELECT * FROM "vt__usa_orders_only"

   

List files and folders in Alteryx via SQL view

1. Open Alteryx Designer.

2. First, verify your DCM Settings to ensure you can access ODBC drivers. Go to Options > User Settings > Edit User Settings.

   If DCM Mode is set to DCM Only, change it to DCM Optional if you would like to access the legacy Generic ODBC Connection.

   
   After changing this setting, you may need to click Save and restart the connection window for the "Generic ODBC" icon to appear.

3. Drag an Input Data tool onto your Alteryx canvas.

   

4. In the Configuration pane, click Set Up a Connection.

   

5. Note for DCM Users: If your environment has DCM (Data Connection Manager) enabled, the classic "Generic ODBC" icon may be hidden. To find it, select Data sources on the left and type "ODBC" in the search bar.

6. Once the ODBC window opens, click Connect Asset and select your DropboxDSN DSN from the list.

   
   Ensure you have configured a 64-bit System DSN in the Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator before this step.

7. After selecting your DSN, configure your SQL Query in the Input Data tool configuration:

   

8. To save your data, drag an Output Data tool and connect it to the Input Data tool.

9. Configure the Output Data tool to write to a CSV file:

   

10. Press Run (Ctrl+R) to execute the workflow. Verify the results in the Results Window at the bottom.

    

Advanced topics

Creating SQL stored procedures

You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.

Steps to create Custom Stored Procedure in ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Procedure:
   

2. Enter the desired Procedure name and click on OK:
   

3. Select the created Stored Procedure and write the your desired stored procedure and Save it and it will create the custom stored procedure in the ZappySys Driver. Here is an example stored procedure for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

   CREATE PROCEDURE [usp_get_orders]
       @fromdate = '<<yyyy-MM-dd,FUN_TODAY>>'
    AS
       SELECT * FROM Orders where OrderDate >= '<@fromdate>';
   

   

4. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Stored Procedure using Exec Command. In this example it will extract the orders from the date 1996-01-01:

   Exec usp_get_orders '1996-01-01';

   

Conclusion

And there you have it — a complete guide on how to list files and folders in Alteryx without writing complex code. All of this was powered by Dropbox ODBC Driver, which handled the REST API pagination and authentication for us automatically.

Download the trial now or ping us via chat if you have any questions or are looking for a specific feature (you can also reach out to us by submitting a ticket):

More actions supported by Dropbox Connector

Got another use case in mind? We've documented the exact setups for a variety of essential Dropbox operations directly in Alteryx, so you can skip the trial and error. Find your next step-by-step guide below:

• Create folder
• Delete file or folder
• Download file
• Download folder as ZIP archive
• List files
• Make connection test
• Read CSV file
• Read CSV files from folder
• Upload file
• Make Generic REST API Request
• Make Generic REST API Request (Bulk Write)

More Dropbox integrations

SSIS

SQL Server

Microsoft Fabric

Power BI

SSRS

Informatica PowerCenter

MS Access

Excel

SSAS

C#

Python

Java

Tableau

SAP Crystal Reports

Azure Data Factory (Pipeline)

Azure Data Factory (SSIS)

Talend Studio

UiPath

PowerShell

ODBC