Specifying "limit" in folder.getChildren does not have any effect

[Roshni661]

• I have checked that the [SDK documentation][sdk-docs] doesn't solve my issue.
• I have checked that the [API documentation][api-docs] doesn't solve my issue.
• I have searched the [Box Developer Forums][dev-forums] and my issue isn't already reported (or if it has been reported, I have attached a link to it, for reference).
• I have searched [Issues in this repo][github-repo] and my issue isn't already reported.

Description of the Issue

Related commit to this issue: #861
My code:

        int assetsRead = 0;
        for (BoxItem.Info itemInfo : boxFolder.getChildren(date, ASC,
                offset, limit, REQUIRED_FIELDS)) {
            if (itemInfo instanceof BoxFile.Info) {
                // do something
            } else if (itemInfo instanceof BoxFolder.Info) {
                // do something
            }
            assetsRead++;
        }

Output: assetsRead > limit

I set the limit to 1000. While crawling folders that have more than 3000 subfolders/files, the boxFolder.getChildren returns all the items in the folder instead of specified limit.

Please look into this issue as this is affecting our service.

I did not find any documentation related to this feature in - https://github.com/box/box-java-sdk/blob/main/doc/folders.md#get-a-folders-items

Please don't close the issue until this is resolved.

[Roshni661]

#871 Related to your reply here.

@sujaygarlanka @PJSimon I understand that this will break once the limit is hit. Curious why the API call isn't doing it on its own. The folder.getChildren() should be working with the specified limit but it doesn't have any effect.

Please don't close the issue until it is resolved since I am unable to open it again.

[Roshni661]

@sujaygarlanka @PJSimon If the "limit" field was working I wouldn't have to add the "if" check and break the loop. My actual question was why is specifying the field "limit" not having any effect in the API?

[sujaygarlanka]

@Roshni661 The limit field is how many items should be retrieved from the API per call. The API will return a max of 1000 items. If you want 3000 items, you can go through the for loop 3000 times and we will make 3 api calls through the SDK if you set the limit to 1000 or 300 api calls if you set the limit to 10. The limit parameter is to allow you to optimize the SDK based on how many items you expect.

[Roshni661]

@sujaygarlanka That is the problem. The API is not returning a max of 1000 items when limit = 1000. It is returning all 3000 items in a single API call. Specifying the limit parameter does NOT return the items that I except.

[sujaygarlanka]

@Roshni661 The getChildren method in the for loop you have does not make a single API call. getChildren() returns an iterable that we designed that makes as many API calls as needed to return an item for every iteration of the loop. If you iterate through the loop 1000 times, it will make one call, if you iterate 3000 times, it will make 3 calls, and if you iterate 5000 times, it will make 5 calls as long as you have that many items in your Box account.

[Roshni661]

@sujaygarlanka I understand now but then whats the use of having a limit/offset fields if I have to add the if condition check to break out of the loop? Generally a normal pagination code returns or breaks out of the loop by itself after 1000 (if limit size is 1000) and would require the client to make the next call with offset as 1000 to get the next 1000. By your logic, box returns all 3000 items if I just keep iterating through it. Maybe it takes into the account the limit field while making API call behind the scenes but then it is not very straightforward in the documentation

[sujaygarlanka]

@Roshni661 Yes, it takes into account the limit field when making the API calls. So you can set it to a certain value to make the SDK most efficient for your use case. But iterating through the iterator is what determines how many items you get back.