Dropbox Platform for Developers Enables File Sharing and Syncing to Mobile Apps
Dropbox Platform for Developers Enables File Sharing and Syncing to Mobile Apps by UCStrategies Staff
A new platform has been revealed by Dropbox which helps software developers include Dropbox capabilities to their applications. The announcement was made at the company’s first ever developer conference in San Francisco, California, this week.
The new Dropbox platform has been developed upon the company’s Dropbox Sync API, which enables an iOS or Android app to treat the Dropbox file share and sync service like a local file system on the device. It is possible now for users of Dropbox Sync API to list the contents of a folder, or move, delete and create files and folders locally.
Thirteen Guys Named Ed is a solution provider and Dropbox For Business Partner based in Safety Harbor, Florida. The CEO of that company, Jeff Kuszczak, said that looking at how well the Dropbox Platform is adopted by third-party developers will give some idea of the impact it will have on IT.
Juszczak added that Dropbox is now developing into a key utility for customers, and will increase in usefulness as it becomes more widely available with third-party applications.
He stated: “Any company with traditional file servers can get rid of them with Dropbox. We've helped customers take out their servers, and their users don't even notice the change. Our favorite thing to do is turn off servers. The typical SMB doesn't need servers if they use the cloud.”
The Datastore API was also released this week, and this is able to store and synchronize application data. It also ensures that data used by an app is up-to-date over devices, regardless of whether the user is online or offline.
Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, the co-founders, noted: “When you use an app built with datastores, your data will be up-to-date across all devices whether you're online or offline. Imagine a task-tracking app that works on both your iPhone and the web. If it's built with the Datastore API, you can check off items from your phone during a cross-country flight and add new tasks from your computer and Dropbox will make sure the changes don't clobber each other.”
A couple of drop-ins are included by Dropbox, called cross-platform user interface components by Houston and Ferdowsi; these can be integrated into apps within minutes. Instant access to files in Dropbox is provided to an app through the Chooser drop-in, and the Saver drop-in offers one-click saving of files to Dropbox. (CY) Link