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Apply metadata to an item

Guides Metadata Metadata instances Apply metadata to an item
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Apply metadata to an item

A metadata template can be applied to a file or folder using the item's id, the template's templateKey and scope, and a set of values for each field in the template.

Metadata scopes can be either global for templates available to all enterprises, enterprise for templates available to the current enterprise, or the enterprise_:id for templates belonging to an enterprise whose ID is the :id value in the scope name.

You can assign up to 100 templates to specific file or folder.

Apply metadata to a file

To apply an instance of a metadata template to a file, call the POST /files/:file_id/metadata/:scope/:templateKey API endpoint with the file's file_id, the template's scope and templateKey, and an optional set of values for each field in the template.

cURL
curl -i -X POST "https://api.box.com/2.0/files/12345/metadata/enterprise_27335/blueprintTemplate" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
     -H "content-type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "audience": "internal",
       "documentType": "Q1 plans",
       "competitiveDocument": "no",
       "status": "active",
       "author": "Jones",
       "currentState": "proposal"
     }'
Node/TypeScript v10
await client.fileMetadata.createFileMetadataById(
  file.id,
  'enterprise' as CreateFileMetadataByIdScope,
  templateKey,
  {
    ['name']: 'John',
    ['age']: 23,
    ['birthDate']: '2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z',
    ['countryCode']: 'US',
    ['sports']: ['basketball', 'tennis'],
  },
);
Python v10
client.file_metadata.create_file_metadata_by_id(
    file.id,
    CreateFileMetadataByIdScope.ENTERPRISE,
    template_key,
    {
        "name": "John",
        "age": 23,
        "birthDate": "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z",
        "countryCode": "US",
        "sports": ["basketball", "tennis"],
    },
)
.NET v10
await client.FileMetadata.CreateFileMetadataByIdAsync(fileId: file.Id, scope: CreateFileMetadataByIdScope.Enterprise, templateKey: templateKey, requestBody: new Dictionary<string, object>() { { "name", "John" }, { "age", 23 }, { "birthDate", "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z" }, { "countryCode", "US" }, { "sports", Array.AsReadOnly(new [] {"basketball","tennis"}) } });
Swift v10
try await client.fileMetadata.createFileMetadataById(fileId: file.id, scope: CreateFileMetadataByIdScope.global, templateKey: "properties", requestBody: ["abc": "xyz"])
Java v10
client.getFileMetadata().createFileMetadataById(file.getId(), CreateFileMetadataByIdScope.ENTERPRISE, templateKey, mapOf(entryOf("name", "John"), entryOf("age", 23), entryOf("birthDate", "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z"), entryOf("countryCode", "US"), entryOf("sports", Arrays.asList("basketball", "tennis"))))
.NET v6
await client.FileMetadata.CreateFileMetadataByIdAsync(fileId: file.Id, scope: CreateFileMetadataByIdScope.Enterprise, templateKey: templateKey, requestBody: new Dictionary<string, object>() { { "name", "John" }, { "age", 23 }, { "birthDate", "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z" }, { "countryCode", "US" }, { "sports", Array.AsReadOnly(new [] {"basketball","tennis"}) } });
Node v4
await client.fileMetadata.createFileMetadataById(
  file.id,
  'enterprise' as CreateFileMetadataByIdScope,
  templateKey,
  {
    ['name']: 'John',
    ['age']: 23,
    ['birthDate']: '2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z',
    ['countryCode']: 'US',
    ['sports']: ['basketball', 'tennis'],
  },
);

To get the scope and templateKey for a template, either list all metadata templates, or list all instances on an file.

Tuple already exists error

When there is already metadata applied to this file for the given metadata template, a error is returned with the error code tuple_already_exists. In this case, it this case the instance needs to be updated instead.

Apply metadata to a folder

To apply an instance of a metadata template to a folder, call the POST /folders/:folder_id/metadata/:scope/:templateKey API endpoint with the folder's folder_id, the template's scope and templateKey, and an optional set of values for each field in the template.

cURL
curl -i -X POST "https://api.box.com/2.0/folders/4353455/metadata/enterprise_27335/blueprintTemplate" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
     -H "content-type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "audience": "internal",
       "documentType": "Q1 plans",
       "competitiveDocument": "no",
       "status": "active",
       "author": "Jones",
       "currentState": "proposal"
     }'
Node/TypeScript v10
await client.folderMetadata.createFolderMetadataById(
  folder.id,
  'enterprise' as CreateFolderMetadataByIdScope,
  templateKey,
  {
    ['name']: 'John',
    ['age']: 23,
    ['birthDate']: '2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z',
    ['countryCode']: 'US',
    ['sports']: ['basketball', 'tennis'],
  },
);
Python v10
client.folder_metadata.create_folder_metadata_by_id(
    folder.id,
    CreateFolderMetadataByIdScope.ENTERPRISE,
    template_key,
    {
        "name": "John",
        "age": 23,
        "birthDate": "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z",
        "countryCode": "US",
        "sports": ["basketball", "tennis"],
    },
)
.NET v10
await client.FolderMetadata.CreateFolderMetadataByIdAsync(folderId: folder.Id, scope: CreateFolderMetadataByIdScope.Enterprise, templateKey: templateKey, requestBody: new Dictionary<string, object>() { { "name", "John" }, { "age", 23 }, { "birthDate", "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z" }, { "countryCode", "US" }, { "sports", Array.AsReadOnly(new [] {"basketball","tennis"}) } });
Swift v10
try await client.folderMetadata.createFolderMetadataById(folderId: folder.id, scope: CreateFolderMetadataByIdScope.global, templateKey: "properties", requestBody: ["abc": "xyz"])
Java v10
client.getFolderMetadata().createFolderMetadataById(folder.getId(), CreateFolderMetadataByIdScope.ENTERPRISE, templateKey, mapOf(entryOf("name", "John"), entryOf("age", 23), entryOf("birthDate", "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z"), entryOf("countryCode", "US"), entryOf("sports", Arrays.asList("basketball", "tennis"))))
.NET v6
await client.FolderMetadata.CreateFolderMetadataByIdAsync(folderId: folder.Id, scope: CreateFolderMetadataByIdScope.Enterprise, templateKey: templateKey, requestBody: new Dictionary<string, object>() { { "name", "John" }, { "age", 23 }, { "birthDate", "2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z" }, { "countryCode", "US" }, { "sports", Array.AsReadOnly(new [] {"basketball","tennis"}) } });
Node v4
await client.folderMetadata.createFolderMetadataById(
  folder.id,
  'enterprise' as CreateFolderMetadataByIdScope,
  templateKey,
  {
    ['name']: 'John',
    ['age']: 23,
    ['birthDate']: '2001-01-03T02:20:50.520Z',
    ['countryCode']: 'US',
    ['sports']: ['basketball', 'tennis'],
  },
);

To get the scope and templateKey for a template, either list all metadata templates, or list all instances on an folder.

Tuple already exists error

When there is already metadata applied to this folder for the given metadata template, a error is returned with the error code tuple_already_exists. In this case, it this case the instance needs to be updated instead.

Request body

The body of the request can contain a value for each field in the template. To inspect what fields are present on a template, inspect a metadata metadata template.

For example, let's assume the following template.

{
  "id": "8120731a-41e4-11ea-b77f-2e728ce88125",
  "type": "metadata_template",
  "templateKey": "productInfo",
  "scope": "enterprise_1234567",
  "displayName": "Product Info",
  "hidden": false,
  "copyInstanceOnItemCopy": true,
  "fields": [
    {
      "id": "feed71de-41e5-11ea-b77f-2e728ce88125",
      "type": "string",
      "key": "name",
      "displayName": "Name",
      "hidden": false
    },
    {
      "id": "02b36bb6-41e6-11ea-b77f-2e728ce88125",
      "type": "enum",
      "key": "category",
      "displayName": "Category",
      "hidden": false,
      "options": [
        {
          "id": "06a7bcc2-41e6-11ea-b77f-2e728ce88125",
          "key": "SUVs"
        },
        {
          "id": "0a50df02-41e6-11ea-b77f-2e728ce88125",
          "key": "Saloons"
        },
        {
          "id": "0e466be0-41e6-11ea-b77f-2e728ce88125",
          "key": "Cabriolets"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

This template has 2 template fields, name and category. The name field is a regular text field, and the category is an enum.

The request body to assign this template to a file or folder can include a value for any of the fields on the template. It is possible for the body to have no values for no fields.

In this case, a valid example would be the following request body.

{
  "name": "Model 3",
  "category": "SUVs"
}

One exception is a global scoped template with the key properties that can be used to assign any data to a template. Using this template, any set of key/value pairs can be assigned to a template.

The category field in this example is an enum field and needs to be one of the available options on the field.