Reading Raw Data in R to be Saved as .RData File Using the Dropbox API

As a developer, working with data stored on external servers can be challenging. In this article, we will explore how to read raw data from the Dropbox API and save it as an RData file using the httr package in R.

Background

The Dropbox API is a powerful tool for interacting with files stored on Dropbox. The httr package provides a convenient interface for making HTTP requests, including those required to interact with the Dropbox API. To access data from Dropbox, we need to use OAuth 1.0 for authentication and then make a GET request to retrieve the file content.

Getting Started

To begin, you’ll need to install and load the httr package in R:

install.packages("httr")
library(httr)

Next, create an OAuth application on the Dropbox website and note down the API key and secret. You will use these credentials later.

Signing the Request

Before making the request to Dropbox, we need to sign it using the sign_oauth1_0 function from the httr package:

db.app <- oauth_app("db", key = "your_api_key_here", secret = "your_api_secret_here")
db.sig <- sign_oauth1_0(db.app, token = "your_access_token_here", token_secret = "your_token_secret_here")

Making the Request to Dropbox

To retrieve a file from Dropbox, we use the GET function from the httr package:

url <- paste0("https://api-content.dropbox.com/1/files/dropbox/", db.file.name)
response <- GET(url, config = c(db.sig, add_headers(Accept = "x-dropbox-metadata")))

Processing the Response

The response from Dropbox is a binary file, so we need to extract its content:

raw.content.of.file <- content(response)
head(raw.content.of.file)

Saving the Data as an RData File

To save the data as an RData file, we can use the writeBin function:

save(data, file = "downloaded.Rda")

Alternatively, if you don’t want to save the binary data to a file, you can load it directly into your R environment:

load(rawConnection(response$content))

Testing and Verifying the Data

To ensure that the data has been loaded correctly, we can verify its contents using the test function:

test
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In this example, we load a sample dataset and save it as an RData file. We then retrieve the same data from Dropbox using the httr package and verify its contents.

Conclusion

In conclusion, reading raw data from the Dropbox API and saving it as an RData file is a straightforward process that can be accomplished using the httr package in R. By following these steps, you can easily retrieve and load data stored on external servers like Dropbox into your R environment.

Note: This article assumes you have basic knowledge of R and its packages, including httr. If you’re new to R or httr, we recommend checking out the official documentation for more information.

Last modified on 2023-05-07