I would like to use Google Drive as a user interface for files stored outside Drive.

Drive documentation states that:

Third-party shortcuts in Google Drive are metadata-only files that link to other files on external, third-party owned, storage systems.

https://developers.google.com/drive/api/guides/third-party-shortcuts#java

But the sample code does not show how to include the link to the external file:

  // Create Shortcut for file.
  File fileMetadata = new File();
  fileMetadata.setName("Project plan");
  fileMetadata.setMimeType("application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk");

  File file = service.files().create(fileMetadata)
      .setFields("id")
      .execute();
  System.out.println("File ID: " + file.getId());
  return file.getId();

I wonder if it’s possible to create files in drive that point to external files/urls.