Does anyone know how to create a DropBoxToken? I can see that it gets returned when exchanging a Request Token for an Access Token. However, I can't get to through the API to set up a user connection. Or better yet, how to create a DropBoxCredential.

You need to use the DropBoxTokenIssuer.exe tool that is packaged with SharpBox.  This will bring up a UI for you to enter the App Key and App Secret and then generate the Dropbox Token file.  This file will be loaded by your application as in the documentation:

            using (FileStream fs = File.Open("DropboxToken.dbtkn", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None))
            {
                accessToken = dropBoxStorage.DeserializeSecurityToken(fs);
            }

That would be a fine thing to do, except there is no documentation within the SharpBox v1.2 download on the use of the DropBoxTokenIssuer application. The only mention that I can even find for it is a couple of lines in the Quick Start Guide saying that you must use it to generate a valid token file. And as I have previously posted the DropBoxTokenIssuer application keeps generating errors.

Additionally, if you will read further in the documentation (Step 5) you will see:

// open the connection
var StorageToken = dropBoxStorage.Open(dropBoxConfig, dropBoxCredentials);

I see you're issue.  This is an error in the documentation, the "dropBoxCredentials" is actually the "accessToken".  I ran into this also, but noticed that the Type returned by DeserializeSecurityToken() is the same Type as dropBoxStorage.Open()'s 2nd argument, so I figured it was just an error in the example, and it was.

            using (FileStream fs = File.Open("DropboxToken.dbtkn", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None))
            {
                accessToken = dropBoxStorage.DeserializeSecurityToken(fs);
            }

            // open the connection 
            var storageToken = dropBoxStorage.Open(dropBoxConfig, accessToken); 

In theory that sounds good. However, when I run the mini app I've created I get an exception trying to get the /Public folder.

AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.Exceptions.SharpBoxException was unhandled
Message=Couldn't retrieve child elements from the server
Source=AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox
StackTrace:
at AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.StorageProvider.DropBox.Logic.DropBoxStorageProviderService.RequestResource(IStorageProviderSession session, String Name, ICloudDirectoryEntry parent)
at AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.StorageProvider.GenericStorageProvider.GetFileSystemObject(String path, ICloudDirectoryEntry parent)
at AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.CloudStorage.GetFileSystemObject(String name, ICloudDirectoryEntry parent)
at AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.CloudStorage.GetFolder(String path, ICloudDirectoryEntry parent)
at AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.CloudStorage.GetFolder(String path)
at TutApp01.Module1.Main() in C:\DEVELOP\ShaprBox Tutorial\TutApp01\TutApp01\Module1.vb:line 30
at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(RuntimeAssembly assembly, String[] args)
at System.AppDomain.ExecuteAssembly(String assemblyFile, Evidence assemblySecurity, String[] args)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssembly()
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean ignoreSyncCtx)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
InnerException: System.Web.HttpException
ErrorCode=-2147467259
Message=HTTP Error
WebEventCode=0
InnerException:

My code is in VB and this is what I'm doing:

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Web
Imports AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox
Imports AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.StorageProvider.DropBox

Module Module1

    Public dropBoxStorage As CloudStorage
    Public AEDropBoxTkn As String = IO.Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "AdvisorExchange.dbtkn")

    Sub Main()
        ' Creating cloudstorage object
        dropBoxStorage = New CloudStorage

        ' Get the configuration for dropbox
        Dim dropBoxConfig As DropBoxConfiguration = CloudStorage.GetCloudConfigurationEasy(nSupportedCloudConfigurations.DropBox)

        ' Building credentials for the service
        Dim accessToken As ICloudStorageAccessToken = Nothing
        Using fs As IO.FileStream = IO.File.Open(AEDropBoxTkn, _
                                                 IO.FileMode.Open, IO.FileAccess.Read, IO.FileShare.None)
            accessToken = dropBoxStorage.DeserializeSecurityToken(fs)
        End Using

        Dim storageToken = dropBoxStorage.Open(dropBoxConfig, accessToken)

        ' The exception is occuring at this statement
        Dim publicFldr = dropBoxStorage.GetFolder("/Public")
        For Each fof In publicFldr
            If TypeOf fof Is ICloudDirectoryEntry Then
                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Dir: {0}", CType(fof, ICloudDirectoryEntry).Name))
            ElseIf TypeOf fof Is ICloudFileSystemEntry Then
                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("File: {0}", CType(fof, ICloudFileSystemEntry).Name))
            End If
        Next
        dropBoxStorage.Close()
    End Sub

End Module

Is SharpBox v1.2 broken for acessing DropBox now? I know that there are a lot of VB bigots out there so I took the time to rewrite my test app in C#. I'm still getting the same error. as above. Below is the test app code.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web;
using AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox;
using AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.StorageProvider.DropBox;

namespace TutApp01CS
{
    class Program
    {
        public static CloudStorage dropBoxStorage;
        public static string AEDropBoxTkn = Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "AdvisorExchange.dbtkn");

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Creating cloudstorage object
            dropBoxStorage = new CloudStorage();

            // Get the configuration for dropbox
            DropBoxConfiguration dropBoxConfig = (DropBoxConfiguration)CloudStorage.GetCloudConfigurationEasy(nSupportedCloudConfigurations.DropBox);

            // Building credentials for the service
            ICloudStorageAccessToken accessToken = null;
            using (FileStream fs = File.Open(AEDropBoxTkn, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None))
            {
                accessToken = dropBoxStorage.DeserializeSecurityToken(fs);
            }

            var storageToken = dropBoxStorage.Open(dropBoxConfig, accessToken);
            var publicFldr = dropBoxStorage.GetFolder("/Public");
            foreach (var fof in publicFldr)
            {
                if (fof is ICloudDirectoryEntry)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Dir: {0}", ((ICloudDirectoryEntry)fof).Name));
                }
                else if (fof is ICloudFileSystemEntry)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("File: {0}", ((ICloudDirectoryEntry)fof).Name));
                }
            }
            dropBoxStorage.Close();

        }
    }
}

First, you need to fix the cast for file system entry.  This is the correct cast:

                else if (fof is ICloudFileSystemEntry)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("File: {0}", ((ICloudFileSystemEntry)fof).Name));
                }

After that, it worked fine for me:

C:\...\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\DropboxTest\DropboxTest\bin\Debug>DropboxTest.exe
File: How to use the Public folder.txt

Thanks, that is what I get for copy and pasting. If you can go back and read my initial thread, you'll see that I don't even get that far. I'm only getting as far as:

            var publicFldr = dropBoxStorage.GetFolder("/Public");

before I get the above error message indicating that there is no Public folder.

AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox.Exceptions.SharpBoxException was unhandled 
Message=Couldn't retrieve child elements from the server 
Source=AppLimit.CloudComputing.SharpBox 

This is what I did ...

I've registered an App with DropBox. This gave me my Consumer information. I used those two pieces of info in the DropBoxTokenIssuer to generate a file (AdvisorExchange.dbtkn) that I'm now using in this part of the application. During the DropBoxTokenIssuer I entered my Consumer Key and Consumer Secret in the "Application" input fields, and the name of the output file. Then I clicked on "Authorize".

Does this sound like the correct steps?

BTW, I'm using SharpBox-1.2.0.542

Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I'm running into the exact same problem. Any help would be much appreciated, as I am doubting if SharpBox actually works with Dropbox any longer??

Yes ... and no. I was able to access the "Public" folder of the "Shared account" once I created that public folder in the "app" subdirectory my application was looking for. As soon as the user accepts the ability for your app to right into their DropBox a folder \\Apps\younamehere is created. Once I created a folder named "Public" and put some files in it I could then iterate through them.

What I still haven't gotten the answer to is how to access my own dropbox environment so that I can put files in there and then share them or whatever.

I am able to move files from local PC storage to the shared "Apps" storage. This is what I need to work for what I want to do in the long term.

I discovered later that this is due to the permissions granted to your App. The tutorial is a little vague on this subject, but you would only be able to access the '/Public' folder if your app has permissions to access all Dropbox folders. My app was permitted access only to Apps/[App-Name]/.. and of course there is no folder in here called 'Public'. 

I adjusted the code as follows:

Dim myFolder As ICloudDirectoryEntry = dropBoxStorage.GetRoot()

You could also use:

Dim myFolder As ICloudDirectoryEntry = dropBoxStorage.GetFolder("/A Folder in my App")

With this type of permission the file/folder mappings assume your app folder is always the root. The documentation could be a little clearer on this!

I can do the GetRoot thing, but that seems like a whole in the DropBox API. If I'm accessing someone else's DropBox I should only be allowed into the area that they gave me permission to get to, e.g., a folder in the App subdirectory. What I'm trying to figure out, and doesn't seem to work anymore, is how to access my own dropbox and manage / manipulate it through the SharpBox API.

I would also like to see SharpBox / DropBox provide a level of client authorization token caching / streaming. I would like to be able to log in to DropBox, have DropBox provide me with a list of credentialed users for my application, and then be able to loop through them accessing the files and folders in the App subdirectory that I have access to. It seems from the examples that I might be able to do this, but it also seems that I have to manage the caching of the credentials locally.