Box should have explicitly used 64-bit variables in API instead of int

5 points

14 years ago

Just received an email from Box. Having first warned developers a few months ago[1], it looks like their original API which used 'int' is about to fall over. Good to see Box are on top of resolving this issue but I think it's fair to say that it shouldn't have happened and that this is just one example of startups rushing out APIs to chase ecosystem growth.

[1] http://developers.blog.box.com/2012/05/01/an-issue-for-ios-developers/

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Hi,

I'm writing to let you know about an upcoming issue that may affect your application that uses the Box API. In approximately three weeks, our file IDs will be crossing the 2^32 boundary in size. In short, that means that if your application is storing Box file IDs as small integers or 32-bit numbers, it will be unable to correctly store our file IDs once they pass 2^32, so your app will no longer be able to access files stored on Box (though uploading new files will continue to work).

To prepare for this, you'll need to change variables in which you store Box file IDs to either VARCHAR or STRING types. If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected] - we're here to help!

If you have an iOS app, it is especially important to note that the Apple App Store review team gets inundated with updates and new apps starting in early December, so if you need to submit a new version, be sure to do so by the end of November.

Thanks, The Box Platform Team