I have a WebApp that stores a backup in the cloud of the user. I use the third party libary: http://fabi.me/en/php-projects/dropphp-dropbox-api-client/
Login works. But im stuck at the point where I can download it.
The following code downloads the file on the cloud and writes it to a file.
$dropbox->DownloadFile( $file, $test_file )
But I need the content of the file only in a string and not as file. The data shouldn't be stored.
Out of the box, you can't.
However, the DownloadFile method is quite simple:
https://github.com/f4bsch/DropPHP/blob/master/DropboxClient.php#L261
My suggestion is to override this method by creating your own, CustomDropboxClient by extending the used DropboxClient library, then rewrite the file handling logic. It's using the curl library. By setting the CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER option, you can retrieve the data without writing it to a file.
This should give you enough hints to start this project. If you need anything, just comment.