Python Google Drive API file-delete() method broken - google-drive-api

Question

I cannot get google-drive file-delete() method to work via the Python API.
It is acting broken.
I offer some info about my setup:
Ubuntu 16.04
Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 12 2018, 13:43:14)
google-api-python-client (1.7.9)
google-auth (1.6.3)
google-auth-httplib2 (0.0.3)
google-auth-oauthlib (0.3.0)
Below, I list a Python script which can reproduce the bug:
"""
googdrive17.py
This script should delete files named 'hello.txt'
Ref:
https://developers.google.com/drive/api/v3/quickstart/python
https://developers.google.com/drive/api/v3/reference/files
Demo (Ubuntu):
sudo apt install python3-pip
sudo pip3 install --upgrade google-api-python-client
sudo pip3 install --upgrade google-auth-httplib2
sudo pip3 install --upgrade google-auth-oauthlib
python3 googdrive17.py
"""
import pickle
import os.path
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from googleapiclient.http import MediaFileUpload
from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow
from google.auth.transport.requests import Request
# I s.declare a very permissive scope (for training only):
SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive']
creds = None
# The file token.pickle stores the user's access and refresh tokens, and is
# created automatically when the authorization flow completes for the first time.
if os.path.exists('token.pickle'):
with open('token.pickle', 'rb') as fh:
creds = pickle.load(fh)
# If there are no (valid) credentials available, let the user log in.
if not creds or not creds.valid:
if creds and creds.expired and creds.refresh_token:
creds.refresh(Request())
else:
flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file(
'credentials.json', SCOPES)
creds = flow.run_local_server()
# Save the credentials for the next run
with open('token.pickle', 'wb') as token:
pickle.dump(creds, token)
# I s.create a file so I can upload it:
with open('/tmp/hello.txt','w') as fh:
fh.write("hello world\n")
# From my laptop, I s.upload a file named hello.txt:
drive_service = build('drive', 'v3', credentials=creds)
file_metadata = {'name': 'hello.txt'}
media = MediaFileUpload('/tmp/hello.txt', mimetype='text/plain')
create_response = drive_service.files().create(body=file_metadata,
media_body=media,
fields='id').execute()
file_id = create_response.get('id')
print('new /tmp/hello.txt file_id:')
print(file_id)
# Q: With googleapiclient, how to filter files list()-response?
# A1: https://developers.google.com/drive/api/v3/reference/files/list
# A2: https://developers.google.com/drive/api/v3/search-files
list_response = drive_service.files().list(
orderBy = "createdTime desc",
q = "name='hello.txt'",
pageSize = 22,
fields = "files(id, name)"
).execute()
items = list_response.get('files', [])
if items:
for item in items:
print('I will try to delete this file:')
print(u'{0} ({1})'.format(item['name'], item['id']))
del_response = drive_service.files().delete(fileId=item['id'])
print('del_response.body:')
print( del_response.body)
print('I will try to emptyTrash:')
trash_response = drive_service.files().emptyTrash()
print('trash_response.body:')
print( trash_response.body)
else:
print('hello.txt not found in your google-drive account.')
When I run the script I see output similar to that listed below:
$ python3 googdrive17.py
new /tmp/hello.txt file_id:
1m8nKOfIeB0E5t60F_-9bKwIJds8PSvYY
I will try to delete this file:
hello.txt (1m8nKOfIeB0E5t60F_-9bKwIJds8PSvYY)
del_response.body:
None
I will try to delete this file:
hello.txt (1Ow4fcUBgEYUy3ezYScDKlLSMbp-hyOLT)
del_response.body:
None
I will try to delete this file:
hello.txt (1TiUrLgQdY1Cb9w0UWHjnmj7HZBaFsKcp)
del_response.body:
None
I will try to emptyTrash:
trash_response.body:
None
$
I see that two of the API calls work well:
files.list()
files.create()
Two calls appear broken:
files.delete()
files.emptyTrash()
Perhaps, though, I call them incorrectly?

Answer 1

How about this modification?
At first, the official document of Files: delete method and Files: emptyTrash method says as follows.
If successful, this method returns an empty response body.
By this, when the file was deleted and the trash was cleared, the returned del_response and trash_response are empty.
Modified script:
From your question, I could understand that files.list() and files.create() works. So I would like to propose the modification points for files.delete() and files.emptyTrash(). Please modify your script as follows.
From:
for item in items:
print('I will try to delete this file:')
print(u'{0} ({1})'.format(item['name'], item['id']))
del_response = drive_service.files().delete(fileId=item['id'])
print('del_response.body:')
print( del_response.body)
print('I will try to emptyTrash:')
trash_response = drive_service.files().emptyTrash()
print('trash_response.body:')
print( trash_response.body)
To:
for item in items:
print('I will try to delete this file:')
print(u'{0} ({1})'.format(item['name'], item['id']))
del_response = drive_service.files().delete(fileId=item['id']).execute() # Modified
print('del_response.body:')
print(del_response)
print('I will try to emptyTrash:')
trash_response = drive_service.files().emptyTrash().execute() # Modified
print('trash_response.body:')
print(trash_response)
execute() was added for drive_service.files().delete() and drive_service.files().emptyTrash().
References:
Files: delete
Files: emptyTrash
If this was not the result you want, I apologize.