Their new process for sharing is what I’ve been using and has generated the issue.
I’m not sure which of the workarounds suggested in this thread will work in the future.
It still seems odd that the default sharing URL that dropbox provides works everywhere but on Discourse, and the modified version works everywhere.
Chris,
I think your script will work only if all files are in the same folder, in this case /Dropbox/Public/
set dbBaseURL to "https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/00000000/"
set dbPubStr to ((path to home folder as text) & "Dropbox:Public:")
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "/Dropbox/Public/"
My testing has shown that generating the shared URL using the Dropbox context menu “Copy Dropbox Link” generates a hash for each parent path to the file.
For example, two files, each in a different folder:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/15p1ba2qqd832wm/CDC%20Disease%20List%20Clean.xlsx.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7f614m0h7p2qf7e/CDC%20Disease%20List%20Clean%202.txt?dl=0
Do you know of a way by script to get the hashed parent path (like “15p1ba2qqd832wm”)?
Interesting, I just looked at the URL this generates and it’s identical to the one generated when I do it.
You say this works everytime without exception? Does that include movies that display and play in posts?
Also, it looks like the trick of changing the 0 to a 1 at the end of the link actually doesn’t work. The movie displays in the post but still doesn’t play. Although you can scroll to various positions in the movie, the play button does nothing.
Yes. I showed that by posting a video in the above post:
BUT, that was created from my PUBLIC Dropbox folder.
That folder will change to “Private” next year, and the links I have posted from it will no longer work.
So, the link to a video in my PUBLIC folder looks like this:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7107976/ScriptDebugger/SD6-Script-Lib-Demo-Video.mp4
The shared public link to a video in one of my private folders looks like this:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9wk964isdm7z28/KM-Macro-AS-Display-Dialog-Video.mp4?dl=0
Right. I’m not using the public folder at all. Just their new system for sharing. I’m getting urls in the second format you posted.
They are the “dropbox.com/s/” style. They can be links to any dropbox file that you share. So I’m wondering if that format works for you or not.
And, to further complicate things, all of the video links posted since your question to Chris have, OMM, displayed as AppleScripts with an “Open in Script Debugger” link.
OK, here’s one:
The link is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9wk964isdm7z28/KM-Macro-AS-Display-Dialog-Video.mp4?dl=0
You’re right. The video will not play in this forum.
If I paste the same URL in a browser address block, then it runs fine.
That’s because I put them in a code block so the URL would display.
I did use the “html” tag to indicate the code type, but the forum software inserted the “Open in Script Debugger” link anyway. I think that is a forum bug (@alldritt ?).
Whew! I thought things had gone mad!
Hey JM,
Subfolders of the public folder work fine.
The URL my script creates is the same as the URL you can copy online for sharing.
My Script:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32860906/Developers/Stairways_Software/Keyboard%20Maestro%20%E2%86%92%20Show%20%E2%86%92%20Action.mp4
Public Link copied online from Dropbox:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32860906/developers/Stairways_Software/Keyboard%20Maestro%20%E2%86%92%20Show%20%E2%86%92%20Action.mp4
Public Link copied from Dropbox Contextual Menu:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32860906/Developers/Stairways_Software/Keyboard%20Maestro%20%E2%86%92%20Show%20%E2%86%92%20Action.mp4
Link Copied from Dropbox Menulet:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppgs8afc1xo08tw/Keyboard%20Maestro%20%E2%86%92%20Show%20%E2%86%92%20Action.mp4?dl=0
The Menulet Link forces the user onto the Dropbox site (or you can the trailing zero to 1 to force a download, and this is why I elected to reproduce the public link when I wrote my script.
Reading through the rest of the posts in this thread I see Dropbox is soon going to change their directory hierarchy for free users, so my method may soon prove to be moot. We’ll have to wait for the changes and then see what we have to work with.
This works but has a limited command-set.
It works without Dropbox running, but I don’t see a get link command.
Much information available here:
The API may change with the move from public to private, so I’d take this with a grain of salt until things shake-out.
-Chris
@estockly et al:
I am finding in other forums (non-Discourse) that I have to change the “dl=0” to “dl=1” in order for the image or video to appear in the forum post.
For example, I have to change:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bx68gwetxvbzjhe/Med-Events-Type.png?dl=0
To:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bx68gwetxvbzjhe/Med-Events-Type.png?dl=1
Here is the image, with the change:
What I’ve seen in some forums is it will show the image for the video but downloads rather than plays in the window.
In other forums it displays a link, that will open (or download and open) the video.
Discourse is the only one that does work at all. No working link, no working video. Just a video control bar.
Ed,
Where you said "Discourse is the only one that does work at all, did you mean “… that does not work at all” That statement is very different depending one whether the word “not” is included or not 
Bill
Yes, that’s what I meant. Does not work at all with Discourse.
Once the topic is closed, linked videos don’t play even if they aren’t expired on the hosting platform (Streamable, in my case). Is it possible to re-enable their playback?
This has nothing to do with the opened/closed state of the topic. I see that the very first video continues to work here. Despite the discussion suggesting Discourse is the problem, I suspect the problem lies with Dropbox and limits it places on the embedding of videos.