5 ms·

Google Drive SDK

137 points by jeffpalmer 14y ago

cleverjake 14y ago
"Warning: Apps will not have any API access to files unless the app has been installed in Chrome Web Store. To test an app during development, you must first create a listing and install it." While that does make it feel a bit more secure, that would be a huge hassel for anyone that wants to go stealth at first.
- etrain 14y ago
  Yeah, this seems kind of bogus - if I'm reading it right, you also have to be creating a webapp to use their API - so hope of implementing a Linux client on FUSE is low at this point.
  - willscott 14y ago
    It seems like a better candidate for a linux FUSE client would be the existing document list API. It works with oauth, and lets you interact with documents. The Drive API is a way to integrate new editor types into google docs.
- jpdoctor 14y ago
  > Apps will not have any API access to files unless the app has been installed in Chrome Web Store I wish google would try being different than apple rather than the same.
- mmahemoff 14y ago
  While that does make it feel a bit more secure, that would be a huge hassel for anyone that wants to go stealth at first. Chrome Web Store has an option for testing where you can whitelist authorised people by Google ID. It may not address the whole issue, but it helps.
  - cleverjake 14y ago
    Ah! Did not know that. Thank you for pointing that out.
- VikingCoder 14y ago
  It's an API. Inevitably, someone will implement the API so you can run a local version of it, so you can test in stealth mode.
Carnage4Life 14y ago
Google Drive only works with Chrome Web Store apps? Strange. SkyDrive has SDKs for Windows Phone, iOS and Android apps at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/live/ff621310 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/live/ff621310 PS: Yes, I work on the SkyDrive developer platform. It doesn't change the truth.
- etherealG 14y ago
  agreed, such a bad implementation of an api. why the association to chrome at all :(
- VikingCoder 14y ago
  Google Drive synchs to your local hard drive, and thus works with all of your apps. (Right?) It ALSO has a Chrome interface to be clever. Picture opening a 1,000 page PDF. If the Chrome PDF Viewer knows how to fetch individual pages on demand, do searches on the server side, etc., it could be very nice for quick previews, etc. Also, it works great for one content creator (who has the app on the desktop), and a bunch of content viewers (and commenters) who just need Chrome.
- haberman 14y ago
  My reading of this is that the Chrome Web Store is where apps are listed and users authorize them, but not necessarily that the app has to run in a web browser. The user could authorize the app by "installing" it through the Chrome Web Store but download/use it from a totally different channel. PS: I work at Google but don't have any inside info on this.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    Chrome Web Store is exclusively for web apps. It's essentially Chrome's and Chromebook's App Store.
    - haberman 14y ago
      I understand that. There's no way to have the web store install a native app. But once you have "installed" the web app, how would the API server have any idea whether a Google Drive API request was coming from a web server, some JavaScript running in a web browser, an Android app, or a remote island in the Pacific that has no electricity via the "IP over Avian Carriers" protocol? It's just HTTP requests with some authorization headers that tie it to your app's identity.
jbk 14y ago
How am I supposed to integrate it within a desktop application? Within an Android application? I must be missing something obvious :)
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  You aren't, I think this is an effort to give web apps file associations. Or in other words, give _Chromebooks_ file associations.
- sureshv 14y ago
  https://developers.google.com/drive/downloads https://developers.google.com/drive/downloads
  - DenisM 14y ago
    .NET library has not been updated recently, so I don't think it has the Drive APIs in it. Do you see any library that actually has Drive code in it?
    - sureshv 14y ago
      You're right, these are just the generic Google API libraries. There is a sample .NET app for GDrive: https://developers.google.com/drive/examples/dotnet https://developers.google.com/drive/examples/dotnet
      - DenisM 14y ago
        That's still not right - in step 5 it asks to register Chrome something or another. So it's only to write web apps, not native apps.
        haberman 14y ago
        It looks like the Chrome Web Store is the centralized place for developers to list apps and for users to authorize them. But once the app is registered/authorized, I'm not sure how the server would have any idea whether requests were coming from a web app or a desktop app. If this is the case, then a native app could exist Chrome Web Store solely for the purpose of letting users authorize the app to access their GDrive.
bashzor 14y ago
I wish people stopped flooding Hacker News with the same product. Or even more so, upvoting all five on the homepage alone. It's not like Drive is that great. Actually it very much pales next to Dropbox.
- Newky 14y ago
  In some areas perhaps it hasn't got some of the functionality that Dropbox has, but it also seems to be scratching a lot of itches which Dropbox isn't even considering scratching. This is not to say Dropbox should consider. Just I don't think you could say this offering pales in comparison to Dropbox. The app SDK in particular looks exciting.
- JoachimSchipper 14y ago
  You're right, but "look, GDrive has an API" is actually kind of neat - this complaint would be more justified on the other threads, IMHO.
  - bashzor 14y ago
    That's true, should have looked for a better one to post this at.
- huggyface 14y ago
  It's not like Drive is that great. Actually it very much pales next to Dropbox. That sounds remarkably sour. Nonetheless, it gets attention because it had been talked about for literally years (back to the latter 2000s). On the day of release it isn't super surprising that it's getting some love.
pjmlp 14y ago
No C or C++ support? :(
psweber 14y ago
This will be a good war.
SiVal 14y ago
It's interesting that on the About Google Drive page, they claim, "Data is inherently social." Funny, I claim that my data is inherently private. Is it a coincidence that companies that would like to sell my data have the philosophy that my data is "inherently social"?
skore 14y ago
Even though I knew about Google Drive, my brain somewhat zoned out for a second and - probably under the influence of yesterdays Planetary Resources Announcement - I thought Google was releasing an SDK for autonomous cars.

137 points by jeffpalmer 14y ago

"Warning: Apps will not have any API access to files unless the app has been installed in Chrome Web Store. To test an app during development, you must first create a listing and install it." While that does make it feel a bit more secure, that would be a huge hassel for anyone that wants to go stealth at first.

etrain 14y ago
Yeah, this seems kind of bogus - if I'm reading it right, you also have to be creating a webapp to use their API - so hope of implementing a Linux client on FUSE is low at this point.
- willscott 14y ago
  It seems like a better candidate for a linux FUSE client would be the existing document list API. It works with oauth, and lets you interact with documents. The Drive API is a way to integrate new editor types into google docs.
jpdoctor 14y ago
> Apps will not have any API access to files unless the app has been installed in Chrome Web Store I wish google would try being different than apple rather than the same.
mmahemoff 14y ago
While that does make it feel a bit more secure, that would be a huge hassel for anyone that wants to go stealth at first. Chrome Web Store has an option for testing where you can whitelist authorised people by Google ID. It may not address the whole issue, but it helps.
- cleverjake 14y ago
  Ah! Did not know that. Thank you for pointing that out.
VikingCoder 14y ago
It's an API. Inevitably, someone will implement the API so you can run a local version of it, so you can test in stealth mode.

Carnage4Life 14y ago

Google Drive only works with Chrome Web Store apps? Strange. SkyDrive has SDKs for Windows Phone, iOS and Android apps at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/live/ff621310 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/live/ff621310 PS: Yes, I work on the SkyDrive developer platform. It doesn't change the truth.

etherealG 14y ago
agreed, such a bad implementation of an api. why the association to chrome at all :(
VikingCoder 14y ago
Google Drive synchs to your local hard drive, and thus works with all of your apps. (Right?) It ALSO has a Chrome interface to be clever. Picture opening a 1,000 page PDF. If the Chrome PDF Viewer knows how to fetch individual pages on demand, do searches on the server side, etc., it could be very nice for quick previews, etc. Also, it works great for one content creator (who has the app on the desktop), and a bunch of content viewers (and commenters) who just need Chrome.
haberman 14y ago
My reading of this is that the Chrome Web Store is where apps are listed and users authorize them, but not necessarily that the app has to run in a web browser. The user could authorize the app by "installing" it through the Chrome Web Store but download/use it from a totally different channel. PS: I work at Google but don't have any inside info on this.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  Chrome Web Store is exclusively for web apps. It's essentially Chrome's and Chromebook's App Store.
  - haberman 14y ago
    I understand that. There's no way to have the web store install a native app. But once you have "installed" the web app, how would the API server have any idea whether a Google Drive API request was coming from a web server, some JavaScript running in a web browser, an Android app, or a remote island in the Pacific that has no electricity via the "IP over Avian Carriers" protocol? It's just HTTP requests with some authorization headers that tie it to your app's identity.

jbk 14y ago

How am I supposed to integrate it within a desktop application? Within an Android application? I must be missing something obvious :)

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
You aren't, I think this is an effort to give web apps file associations. Or in other words, give _Chromebooks_ file associations.
sureshv 14y ago
https://developers.google.com/drive/downloads https://developers.google.com/drive/downloads
- DenisM 14y ago
  .NET library has not been updated recently, so I don't think it has the Drive APIs in it. Do you see any library that actually has Drive code in it?
  - sureshv 14y ago
    You're right, these are just the generic Google API libraries. There is a sample .NET app for GDrive: https://developers.google.com/drive/examples/dotnet https://developers.google.com/drive/examples/dotnet
    - DenisM 14y ago
      That's still not right - in step 5 it asks to register Chrome something or another. So it's only to write web apps, not native apps.
      - haberman 14y ago
        It looks like the Chrome Web Store is the centralized place for developers to list apps and for users to authorize them. But once the app is registered/authorized, I'm not sure how the server would have any idea whether requests were coming from a web app or a desktop app. If this is the case, then a native app could exist Chrome Web Store solely for the purpose of letting users authorize the app to access their GDrive.

bashzor 14y ago

I wish people stopped flooding Hacker News with the same product. Or even more so, upvoting all five on the homepage alone. It's not like Drive is that great. Actually it very much pales next to Dropbox.

Newky 14y ago
In some areas perhaps it hasn't got some of the functionality that Dropbox has, but it also seems to be scratching a lot of itches which Dropbox isn't even considering scratching. This is not to say Dropbox should consider. Just I don't think you could say this offering pales in comparison to Dropbox. The app SDK in particular looks exciting.
JoachimSchipper 14y ago
You're right, but "look, GDrive has an API" is actually kind of neat - this complaint would be more justified on the other threads, IMHO.
- bashzor 14y ago
  That's true, should have looked for a better one to post this at.
huggyface 14y ago
It's not like Drive is that great. Actually it very much pales next to Dropbox. That sounds remarkably sour. Nonetheless, it gets attention because it had been talked about for literally years (back to the latter 2000s). On the day of release it isn't super surprising that it's getting some love.

pjmlp 14y ago

No C or C++ support? :(

psweber 14y ago

This will be a good war.

SiVal 14y ago

It's interesting that on the About Google Drive page, they claim, "Data is inherently social." Funny, I claim that my data is inherently private. Is it a coincidence that companies that would like to sell my data have the philosophy that my data is "inherently social"?

skore 14y ago

Even though I knew about Google Drive, my brain somewhat zoned out for a second and - probably under the influence of yesterdays Planetary Resources Announcement - I thought Google was releasing an SDK for autonomous cars.