Configuration API for Java SDK

Breaking changes in v9.0.0

PubNub Java SDK version 9.0.0 unifies the codebases for Java and Kotlin SDKs, introduces a new way of instantiating the PubNub client, and changes asynchronous API callbacks and emitted status events. These changes can impact applications built with previous versions (< 9.0.0) of the Java SDK.

For more details about what has changed, refer to Java/Kotlin SDK migration guide.

Java complete API reference for building real-time applications on PubNub, including basic usage and sample code.

Configuration

PNConfiguration instance is storage for user-provided information which describe further PubNub client behavior. Configuration instance contains additional set of properties which allow performing precise PubNub client configuration.

Immutable configuration

Once a configuration object has been passed to the PubNub constructor, you can't change its properties.

If you require changing values dynamically consider using value overrides.

Method(s)

To create configuration instance you can use the following function in the Java SDK:

import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;

PNConfiguration.builder(UserId userId, String subscribeKey).build()
* required
ParameterDescription
subscribeKey *
Type: String
Default:
n/a
subscribeKey from the Admin Portal.
publishKey
Type: String
Default:
n/a
publishKey from the Admin Portal (only required if publishing).
secretKey
Type: String
Default:
n/a
secretKey (only required for access operations, keep away from Android).
logVerbosity
Type: PNLogVerbosity
Default:
PNLogVerbosity.NONE
Set PNLogVerbosity.BODY to enable logging of network calls along with proper logging framework configuration (if any) that is described in the Logging document. To disable logging of network calls, use the PNLogVerbosity.NONE option.
cacheBusting
Type: Boolean
Default:
n/a
If operating behind a misbehaving proxy, allow the client to shuffle the subdomains.
secure
Type: Boolean
Default:
true
When true TLS is enabled.
connectTimeout
Type: Int
Default:
5
Maximum time to establish a connection, in seconds.
subscribeTimeout
Type: Int
Default:
310
Subscribe request timeout, in seconds.
nonSubscribeRequestTimeout
Type: Int
Default:
10
Non-subscribe request timeout, in seconds.
filterExpression
Type: String
Default:
Not set
Feature to subscribe with a custom filter expression.
heartbeatNotificationOptions
Type: PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions
Default:
PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.FAILURES
Heartbeat notification options. By default, the SDK alerts on failed heartbeats (equivalent to PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.FAILURES).
Other options including all heartbeats (PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.ALL) and no heartbeats (PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.NONE) are supported.
origin
Type: String
Default:
n/a
Custom origin if needed.
To request a custom domain, contact support and follow the request process.
retryConfiguration
Type: RetryConfiguration
Default:
RetryConfiguration.Exponential (subscribe only)
Reconnection policy. Choose None, Linear(delayInSec, maxRetryNumber, excludedOperations), or Exponential(minDelayInSec, maxDelayInSec, maxRetryNumber, excludedOperations). You can exclude endpoint groups (for example, SUBSCRIBE). See SDK connection lifecycle.
presenceTimeout
Type: Int
Default:
300
How long the server considers the client alive for presence. The client sends periodic heartbeats to stay active. If no heartbeat arrives within the timeout, the client is marked inactive and a "timeout" event is emitted on the presence channel. Minimum 20 seconds.
heartbeatInterval
Type: Int
Default:
0
How often the client sends heartbeats. To shorten presence timeout, set roughly to (presenceTimeout / 2) - 1. Minimum 3. Default 0 (disabled).
proxy
Type: Proxy
Default:
n/a
Instructs the SDK to use a proxy configuration when communicating with PubNub servers. For more details see this https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/Proxy.html
proxySelector
Type: ProxySelector
Default:
n/a
Sets Java ProxySelector. For more details, refer to https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/ProxySelector.html
proxyAuthenticator
Type: Authenticator
Default:
n/a
Sets Java Authenticator. For more details refer to https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/Authenticator.html
googleAppEngineNetworking
Type: Boolean
Default:
n/a
Enable Google App Engine networking.
suppressLeaveEvents
Type: Boolean
Default:
false
When true the SDK doesn't send out the leave requests.
maintainPresenceState
Type: Boolean
Default:
true
Whether the custom presence state information set using pubnub.setPresenceState() should be sent every time the SDK sends a subscribe call.
cryptoModule
Type: CryptoModule.createAesCbcCryptoModule(cipherKey, useRandomInitializationVector)

CryptoModule.createLegacyCryptoModule(cipherKey, useRandomInitializationVector)
Default:
None
The cryptography module used for encryption and decryption of messages and files. Takes the cipherKey and useRandomInitializationVector parameters as arguments. For more information, refer to the cryptoModule section.
includesInstanceIdentifier
Type: Boolean
Default:
false
Whether to include a PubNubCore.instanceId with every request.
includeRequestIdentifier
Type: Boolean
Default:
true
Whether to include a PubNubCore.requestId with every request.
maximumConnections
Type: Int?
Default:
n/a
Sets max requests per host (okhttp3.Dispatcher.setMaxRequestsPerHost).
certificatePinner
Type: CertificatePinner
Default:
n/a
Sets certificate pinner for HTTPS connections.
httpLoggingInterceptor
Type: HttpLoggingInterceptor
Default:
n/a
Sets a custom interceptor for logging network traffic.
sslSocketFactory
Type: SSLSocketFactory
Default:
n/a
Sets the SSL socket factory for creating SSL sockets.
x509ExtendedTrustManager
Type: X509ExtendedTrustManager
Default:
n/a
Sets the SSL trust manager for managing SSL certificates.
connectionSpec
Type: ConnectionSpec
Default:
n/a
Sets the specifications for making connections (ConnectionSpec).
hostnameVerifier
Type: HostnameVerifier
Default:
n/a
Manages the verification of the hostnames.
fileMessagePublishRetryLimit
Type: Int
Default:
5
Specifies how many times publishing file messages should automatically retry before failing.
dedupOnSubscribe
Type: Boolean
Default:
n/a
Enables deduplication on subscribe.
maximumMessagesCacheSize
Type: Int
Default:
n/a
Sets the maximum size of messages cache.
pnsdkSuffixes
Type: Map<String,String>
Default:
n/a
Adds custom suffixes to the SDK version info.
managePresenceListManually
Type: Boolean
Default:
n/a
Enables explicit presence control when set to true, affecting heartbeat and presence behavior.
authKey
Type: String
Default:
Not set
This parameter is deprecated. Refer to Manage Access to understand the permission authorization flow and to Java Access Manager API for an overview of the API.

If Access Manager v2 is utilized, client will use this authKey in all restricted requests.

cryptoModule

cryptoModule encrypts and decrypts messages and files. From 6.3.6, you can configure the algorithms it uses. By default, encryption is disabled.

Each SDK includes two options: legacy 128‑bit encryption and recommended 256‑bit AES‑CBC. For background, see Message Encryption and File Encryption.

For configuration details, utilities, and examples, see Encryption.

Legacy encryption with 128-bit cipher key entropy

You don't have to change your encryption configuration if you want to keep using the legacy encryption. If you want to use the recommended 256-bit AES-CBC encryption, you must explicitly set that in PubNub config.

Sample code

Reference code
This example is a self-contained code snippet ready to be run. It includes necessary imports and executes methods with console logging. Use it as a reference when working with other examples in this document.
Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Value override

You can provide updated values for certain configuration options for a single request to any supported API with PnConfigurationOverride.from().


The configuration options you can override include:

  • subscribeKey
  • publishKey
  • secretKey
  • retryConfiguration
  • userId
  • includeInstanceIdentifier
  • includeRequestIdentifier
  • cryptoModule
  • connectTimeout
  • nonSubscribeReadTimeout

Initialization

Add PubNub to your project using one of the procedures under Getting Started.

Description

Initialize the PubNub Client API before using any APIs. This sets account-level credentials such as publishKey and subscribeKey.

Method(s)

Initialize PubNub with:


* required
ParameterDescription
pnConfiguration *
Type: PNConfiguration
Goto Configuration for more details.

Sample code

Initialize the PubNub client API

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Returns

Returns the PubNub instance to call APIs such as publish(), subscribe(), history(), and hereNow().

Other examples

Initialize a non-secure client

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Initialization for a Read-Only client

In the case where a client will only read messages and never publish to a channel, you can simply omit the publishKey when initializing the client:

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Initializing with SSL enabled

This examples demonstrates how to enable PubNub Transport Layer Encryption with SSL. Just initialize the client with setSecure set to true. The hard work is done, now the PubNub API takes care of the rest. Just subscribe and publish as usual and you are good to go.

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Initializing with Access Manager

Requires Access Manager add-on

This method requires that the Access Manager add-on is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal. Read the support page on enabling add-on features on your keys.

Secure your secretKey

Anyone with the secretKey can grant and revoke permissions to your app. Never let your secretKey be discovered, and to only exchange it / deliver it securely. Only use the secretKey on secure server-side platforms.

When you init with secretKey, you get root permissions for the Access Manager. With this feature you don't have to grant access to your servers to access channel data. The servers get all access on all channels.

For applications that will administer Access Manager permissions, the API is initialized with the secretKey as in the following example:

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Now that the pubnub object is instantiated the client will be able to access the Access Manager functions. The pubnub object will use the secretKey to sign all Access Manager messages to the PubNub Network.

How to set proxy

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Event listeners

PubNub SDKs provide several sources for real-time updates:

  • The PubNub client can receive updates from all subscriptions: all channels, channel groups, channel metadata, and users metadata.
  • The Subscription object can receive updates only for the particular object for which it was created: channel, channel group, channel metadata, or user.
  • The SubscriptionsSet object can receive updates for all objects for which a list of subscription objects was created.

To work with these sources, the SDK provides local representations of server entities, so you can subscribe and add handlers per entity. For details, see Publish & Subscribe.

UserId

These functions are used to set/get a user ID on the fly.

Method(s)

To set/get userId you can use the following method(s) in Java SDK:

import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;

pnConfiguration.setUserId(String userId);
* required
ParameterDescription
userId *
Type: String
Default:
n/a
userId to be used as a device identifier. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.
import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;

pnConfiguration.getUserId();

This method doesn't take any arguments.

Sample code

Set user ID

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Get user ID


Filter expression

Requires Stream Controller add-on

This method requires that the Stream Controller add-on is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal. Read the support page on enabling add-on features on your keys.

Stream filtering allows a subscriber to apply a filter to only receive messages that satisfy the conditions of the filter. The message filter is set by the subscribing client(s) but it is applied on the server side thus preventing unwanted messages (those that do not meet the conditions of the filter) from reaching the subscriber.

To set or get message filters, you can use the following method. To learn more about filtering, refer to the Publish Messages documentation.

Method(s)

  1. setFilterExpression()

    import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;

    pnConfiguration.setFilterExpression(String filterExpression);
    * required
    ParameterDescription
    filterExpression *
    Type: String
    PSV2 feature to subscribe with a custom filter expression
  2. getFilterExpression()

    import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;

    pnConfiguration.getFilterExpression();

This method doesn't take any arguments.

Sample code

Set filter expression

Required User ID

Always set the userId to uniquely identify the user or device that connects to PubNub. This userId should be persisted, and should remain unchanged for the lifetime of the user or the device. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.


Get filter expression


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