Utility methods
This section lists various helper methods that provide a convenient way to work with PubNub timetokensTimetoken
A unique identifier for each message that represents the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1970, for example, 16200000000000000.
Timetoken to date
The timetokenToInstant() method of the TimetokenUtil class converts a PubNub timetoken (a unique identifier for each message sent and received in a PubNub channel that is a number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1970) to an Instant object representing the corresponding date and time.
Use this method when you want to display the timetoken of each message or event in the chat history in a human-readable format.
Method signature
TimetokenUtil.timetokenToInstant(timetoken: Long): Instant
Input
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
timetoken | Long | Yes | n/a | Represents the PubNub timetoken to convert into a human-readable date format. |
Output
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
Instant | The human-readable date representation of the timetoken. |
Basic usage
Convert a timetoken value of 17276954606232118 to a human-readable date and time format.
val timetoken: Long = 17276954606232118
val instant: Instant = TimetokenUtil.timetokenToInstant(timetoken)
val localDateTimeInUTC = instant.toLocalDateTime(TimeZone.UTC)
println("PubNub timetoken: ${timetoken}")
println("Current date: ${localDateTimeInUTC.date}")
println("Current time: ${localDateTimeInUTC.time}")
The output of the method is as follows:
PubNub timetoken: 17276954606232118
Current time: 11:24:20.623211800
Current date: 2024-09-30
Date to timetoken
The instantToTimetoken() method of the TimetokenUtil class converts the Instant object representing the corresponding date and time into a PubNub timetoken (a unique identifier for each message sent and received in a PubNub channel that is a number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1970).
Use this method to represent a specific date and time as a PubNub timetoken value, for example, to retrieve messages from a PubNub channel at a particular date and time.
Method signature
TimetokenUtil.instantToTimetoken(instant: Instant): Long
Input
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
instant | Instant | Yes | n/a | Represents the date and time to convert into a PubNub timetoken. |
Output
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
Long | Converted timetoken value. |
Basic usage
Convert a human-readable date and time, September 30, 2024 12:12:24 GMT, to a timetoken.
val localDateTime = LocalDateTime(year = 2024, monthNumber = 9, dayOfMonth = 30, hour = 12, minute = 12, second = 44, nanosecond = 123456789)
val zone = TimeZone.currentSystemDefault()
val instant = localDateTime.toInstant(zone)
val timetoken = TimetokenUtil.instantToTimetoken(instant)
println("Current date: ${localDateTime.date}")
println("Current time: ${localDateTime.time}")
println("PubNub timetoken: ${timetoken}")
Current date: 2024-09-30
Current time: 12:12:44.123456789
PubNub timetoken: 17276911641234567
Unix timestamp to timetoken
The unixToTimetoken() method of the TimetokenUtil class converts a Unix timestamp (a number of seconds since January 1, 1970) to a PubNub timetoken (a unique identifier for each message sent and received in a PubNub channel that is a number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1970).
Use this method when you need a timetoken to retrieve historical messages with a specific timestamp range from Message Persistence.
Method signature
This method takes the following parameters:
TimetokenUtil.unixToTimetoken(unixTime: Long): Long
Input
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
unixTime | Long | Yes | n/a | Represents the Unix timestamp to convert into a PubNub timetoken. |
Output
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
Long | Converted timetoken value. |
Basic usage
Convert a Unix timestamp value of 1727866935316 representing 2024-10-02 11:02:15.316 to PubNub timetoken:
val unixTime = 1727866935316
val timetoken: Long = TimetokenUtil.unixToTimetoken(unixTime)
val instant: Instant = TimetokenUtil.timetokenToInstant(timetoken)
val localDateTime = instant.toLocalDateTime(TimeZone.UTC)
println("Current date: ${localDateTime.date}")
println("Current time: ${localDateTime.time}")
println("PubNub timetoken: ${timetoken}")
The output of the method is as follows:
Current date: 2024-10-02
Current time: 11:02:15.316
PubNub timetoken: 17278669353160000
Timetoken to Unix timestamp
The timetokenToUnix() method of the TimetokenUtil class converts a PubNub timetoken (a unique identifier for each message sent and received in a PubNub channel that is a number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1970) to a Unix timestamp (a number of seconds since January 1, 1970).
Use this method to convert PubNub timetoken for use in another context or system that requires a Unix timestamp.
Method signature
TimetokenUtil.timetokenToUnix(timetoken: Long): Long
Input
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
timetoken | Long | Yes | n/a | Represents the PubNub timetoken to convert into a Unix timestamp. |
Output
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
Long | Converted Unix timestamp value. |
Basic usage
Convert a PubNub timetoken 17276954606232118 representing 2024-09-30 11:24:20.623211800 to Unix time:
val timetoken = 17276954606232118
val unixTime = TimetokenUtil.timetokenToUnix(timetoken)
val instant = Instant.fromEpochMilliseconds(unixTime)
val localDateTime = instant.toLocalDateTime(TimeZone.UTC)
println("Current date: ${localDateTime.date}")
println("Current time: ${localDateTime.time}")
println("PubNub timetoken: ${timetoken}")
The output of the method is as follows:
Current date: 2024-09-30
Current time: 11:24:20.623
PubNub timetoken: 17276954606232118