Box Developer Documentation

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Common errors

Common errors

Metadata query API errors mostly are similar to errors returned by other APIs, however at this time some incorrect client requests may result in a server-side error with a HTTP status code in the 5XX range rather than an appropriate 400 Bad Request error.

This is a known issue which will be addressed soon.

Incorrect template key and scope

A common error is to use an incorrect value for the the from value in the request, which can result in various errors in the HTTP 4XX range.

Without a correct from value the API does not know what template to search for. The value in from must be formed as scope.templateKey.

In this case scope is your enterprise's template scope, which looks something like enterprise_123456. The numeric value here is your enterprise's ID. Any scope that does not match this format, including the global scope and the enterprise shorthand scope, will return an error.

The templateKey is the unique key for the metadata template within your enterprise. The API returns an error when a template with the given key does not exist, or when the key is used within the wrong enterprise were the key does not exist.

The List all metadata templates for enterprise endpoint can be used to list all templates available in your enterprise, including their scope and templateKey.

Missing value in query_param

A common error is to forget to include a query argument in the query_params object, which results in a HTTP 400 error with a code of unexpected_json_type.

Without all arguments present in the query_params the API can not compile your request into a full query.

For example, assume your search query is as follows amount >= :value AND status = :status. All of the arguments that start with a colon : will need to be present in the query_params. In this case your query parameters would have to look something like this. Missing out on any of these values will result in an error.

"query_params": {
  "value": 100,
  "status": "active"
}

The name of each argument can configured to your liking and does not need to match the field key. The only requirement is that it starts with a :.

Missing ancestor_folder_id

A common error is to forget the ancestor_folder_id in the request, which results in a HTTP 400 error with a code of bad_request.

Without the ancestor_folder_id value the API does not know what folder to search for results in. When in doubt a value of 0 can be used for the user's root folder.