File Sharing API for PHP SDK

You can upload and share files up to 5 MB on PubNub. Common uses include sharing images in chat apps and documents in healthcare.

When a file is uploaded on a channel, it's stored and managed using a storage service, and associated with your key. Subscribers to that channel receive a file event which contains a file ID, filename, and optional description.

Send file

Upload the file to a specified channel.

This method covers the entire process of sending a file, including preparation, uploading the file to a cloud storage service, and post-uploading messaging on a channel.

For the last messaging step, sendFile internally calls the publishFileMessage method to publish a message on the channel.

The published message contains metadata about the file, such as the file identifier and name, enabling others on the channel to find out about the file and access it.

For details on the method that publishes the file message, see Publish file message.

Method(s)

$pubnub->sendFile()
    ->channel(string)
    ->fileName(string)
    ->message(string|array)
    ->shouldStore(Boolean)
    ->shouldCompress(Boolean)
    ->ttl(Int)
    ->fileHandle(Resource)
    ->fileContent(bytes|File)
    ->meta(string|array)
    ->customMessageType(string)
    ->sync();

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: string Default: n/a	Channel for the file.
fileName * Type: string Default: n/a	Name of the file to send.
message Type: string or array Default: n/a	Message to send along with the file to the specified channel.
shouldStore Type: Boolean Default: True	Whether to store the published file message in the channel history.
shouldCompress Type: Boolean Default: True	Whether to compress the request payload.
ttl Type: Integer Default: n/a	How long the message should be stored in the channel's storage.
fileHandle * Type: Resource Default: n/a	Pointer to a resource to be read and placed in the buffer.
fileContent * Type: bytes or PHP file object Default: n/a	Input stream with file content.
meta Type: string or array Default: n/a	Metadata object which can be used with the filtering ability.
customMessageType Type: string Default: n/a	A case-sensitive, alphanumeric string from 3 to 50 characters describing the business-specific label or category of the message. Dashes - and underscores _ are allowed. The value cannot start with special characters or the string pn_ or pn-. Examples: text, action, poll.

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.

Returns

Returns PNSendFileResult.

PNSendFileResult

Property Name	Type	Description
name	string	Name of the uploaded file.
fileId	string	ID of the uploaded file.

List channel files

Retrieve a list of files uploaded to a channel.

Method(s)

$pubnub->listFiles()
    ->channel(string)
    ->sync();

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: string Default: n/a	Channel to get the list of files.

Sample code

Returns

Returns PNGetFilesResult.

PNGetFilesResult

Property Name	Type	Description
next	string	Random string returned from the server, indicating a specific position in a data set. Used for forward pagination, it fetches the next page, allowing you to continue from where you left off.
prev	string	Random string returned from the server, indicating a specific position in a data set. Used for backward pagination, it fetches the previous page, enabling access to earlier data.
count	Int	Number of files returned.
data	Array	Array of PNGetFilesItem.

PNGetFilesItem contains the following properties:

Property Name	Type	Description
id	string	Id of the uploaded file.
name	string	Name of the upload file.
size	string	Size of the uploaded file.
creationTime	string	Time of creation.

Get file URL

Generate a URL to download a file from the target channel.

Method(s)

$pubnub.getFileDownloadUrl()
    ->channel(string)
    ->fileId(string)
    ->fileName(string)
    ->sync()

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: string	Name of channel to which the file has been uploaded.
fileName * Type: string	Name under which the uploaded file is stored.
fileId * Type: string	Unique identifier for the file, assigned during upload.

Sample code

Returns

Returns PNGetFileDownloadURLResult.

PNGetFileDownloadURLResult

Property Name	Type	Description
fileUrl	string	URL to be used to download the requested file.

Download file

Download a file from the specified channel.

Method(s)

$pubnub.downloadFile()
    ->channel(string)
    ->fileId(string)
    ->fileName(string)
    ->sync()

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: string	Name of channel to which the file has been uploaded.
fileName * Type: string	Name under which the uploaded file is stored.
fileId * Type: string	Unique identifier for the file, assigned during upload.

Sample code

Returns

Returns PNDownloadFileResult.

PNDownloadFileResult

Property Name	Type	Description
fileContent	bytes	The file that was uploaded.

Delete file

Delete a file from the specified channel.

Method(s)

$pubnub.deleteFile()
    ->channel(string)
    ->fileId(string)
    ->fileName(string)
    ->sync()

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: string	The channel from which to delete the file.
fileId * Type: string	Unique identifier of the file to be deleted.
fileName * Type: string	Name of the file to be deleted.

Sample code

Returns

Returns PNDeleteFileResult.

Property Name	Type	Description
status	Int	Returns a status code.

Publish file message

Publish the uploaded file message to a specified channel.

This method is called internally by sendFile as part of the file-sending process to publish the message with the file (already uploaded in a storage service) on a channel.

This message includes the file's unique identifier and name elements, which are needed to construct download links and inform channel subscribers that the file is available for download.

You can call this method when sendFile fails and returns the status.operation === PNPublishFileMessageOperation error. In that case, you can use the data from the status object to try again and use publishFileMessage to manually resend a file message to a channel without repeating the upload step.

Method(s)

$pubnub.publishFileMessage()
    ->channel(string)
    ->fileId(string)
    ->fileName(string)
    ->message(string|array)
    ->meta(string|array)
    ->shouldStore(Boolean)
    ->ttl(Int)
    ->customMessageType(string)
    ->sync();

* required

Parameter	Description
channel * Type: String Default: n/a	Name of channel to publish file message.
file_id * Type: String Default: n/a	Unique identifier of the file.
file_name * Type: String Default: n/a	Name of the file.
message Type: Dictionary Default: n/a	The payload.
meta Type: Dictionary Default: n/a	Metadata object which can be used with the filtering ability.
should_store Type: Boolean Default: True	Whether to store this message in history. Set to False to not store it. By default, messages are stored according to the retention policy set on your key.
ttl Type: Int Default: 0	How long the message should be stored in the channel's history. If not specified, defaults to the key set's retention value.
customMessageType Type: string Default: n/a	A case-sensitive, alphanumeric string from 3 to 50 characters describing the business-specific label or category of the message. Dashes - and underscores _ are allowed. The value cannot start with special characters or the string pn_ or pn-. Examples: text, action, poll.

Sample code

Returns

Returns PNPublishFileMessageResult.

PNPublishFileMessageResult

PNPublishFileMessageResult field:

Property Name	Type	Description
timestamp	string	The timetoken when the message was published.