Fetching file metadata and content in a single request
Previously, retrieving a file’s metadata and its content from the Dropbox API meant making two separate calls: first to get the metadata, then another to fetch the file contents at the revision indicated in that metadata. A recent update to the /files REST endpoint eliminates that round trip by returning the file’s metadata in a dedicated x-dropbox-metadata HTTP response header alongside the file content.
The same treatment has been applied to the /thumbnails endpoint, which now also returns metadata for the source file in the response. For developers working through the official SDKs, new methods surface this combined response directly — no need to parse headers manually. The Python SDK now offers get_file_and_metadata() and thumbnail_and_metadata() to replace the older get_file() and thumbnail() calls. In Ruby, the new get_file_and_metadata() and thumbnail_and_metadata() methods on DropboxClient supersede their earlier counterparts.
For iOS, DBRestClient.m includes new loadedFile() and loadedThumbnail() callbacks that carry the metadata, replacing the previous callback signatures. The Java SDK takes a slightly different route: the DropboxAPI.DropboxFileInfo class now supports a getMetadata() method, so there’s no deprecated interface to migrate away from — just an additional accessor on the object you’re already handling.
These changes reduce client code complexity, particularly when revision numbers aren’t a concern, and cut network overhead in half by requiring a single call for both payload and metadata. Older interfaces will be deprecated in a future release, with advance notice. Full interface details are documented in each SDK’s CHANGELOG and API reference.
