Unable to update Google Drive files using Drive API v3 -- The resource body includes fields which are not directly writable

Question

I am trying to use Google Drive API (v3) to make updates to documents in Google Drive.

I have read this migration guide: Google Drive API v3 Migration

And coded it to make a new empty File() with the details I want to update and then calling execute() with that and the file ID. But i am still getting an error. Can anyone point out where I am doing wrong? thanks alot!!

Error:

{
    "code" : 403,
    "errors" : [{
        "domain" : "global",

        "message" : "The resource body includes fields which are not directly writable.",

        "reason" : "fieldNotWritable"
    }],
    "message" : "The resource body includes fields which are not directly writable."
}

Code snippet below:

File newFileDetails = new File();        
FileList result = service2.files().list()
    .setPageSize(10)    
    .setFields("nextPageToken, files(id, name)")
    .execute();

List<File> files = result.getFiles();

if (files == null || files.size() == 0) {

    System.out.println("No files found.");

} else {

   System.out.println("Files:");

   for (File file : files) {

      if (file.getName().equals("first_sheet")) {

         System.out.printf("%s (%s)\n", file.getName(), file.getId());


         newFileDetails.setShared(true);


         service2.files().update(file.getId(), newFileDetails).execute();

      }

   }

}

Answer 1

Referring to https://developers.google.com/drive/v3/reference/files#resource-representations, you can see that shared isn't a writable field. If you think about it, this makes perfect sense. You can share a file by adding a new permission, and you can check if a file has been shared by reading the shared property. But saying a file is shared, other than by actually sharing it, makes no sense.