We have a web application that uses dropbox as file storage. We have currently run into the issue that shortlinks become inactive after 31 days (http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=33049). Therefore, we are looking for ways to create shareable links instead of shortlinks. However, we can’t seem to find this in the API.
Also, it appears to use the funcationality to create a shareable link, you first have to visit a specific dropbox URL to enable something (http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=35225&replies=2#post-303557). Would this also need to be done via the API?
At the time of writing, the user no longer has to have visit the specific link from that forum thread to enable the feature. Any link created using the /shares call yields a “shareable link” with the preview page. (These links are shortened with db.tt.)
Further, users who do have the feature enabled will automatically have non-expiring links, akin to the links they can create manually. There is currently no API call to create non-expiring links for users without the feature enabled.