Message Persistence API for PHP SDK

Message Persistence provides real-time access to the history of all messages published to PubNub. Each published message is timestamped to the nearest 10 nanoseconds and is stored across multiple availability zones in several geographical locations. Stored messages can be encrypted with AES-256 message encryption, ensuring that they are not readable while stored on PubNub's network. For more information, refer to Message Persistence.

Messages can be stored for a configurable duration or forever, as controlled by the retention policy that is configured on your account. The following options are available: 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or Unlimited.

You can retrieve the following:

  • Messages
  • Message reactions
  • File Sharing (using File Sharing API)

Fetch History​

Requires Message Persistence

This method requires that Message Persistence is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal.

This function fetches historical messages from one or multiple channels. The includeMessageActions flag also allows you to fetch message reactions along with the messages.

It's possible to control how messages are returned and in what order.

  • if you specify only the start parameter (without end), you will receive messages that are older than the start timetoken
  • if you specify only the end parameter (without start), you will receive messages from that end timetoken and newer
  • if you specify values for both start and end parameters, you will retrieve messages between those timetokens (inclusive of the end value)

You will receive a maximum of 100 messages for a single channel or 25 messages for multiple channels (up to 500). If more messages meet the timetoken criteria, make iterative calls while adjusting the start timetoken to fetch the entire list of messages from Message Persistence.

Method(s)​

To run Fetch History, you can use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK:

$pubnub.fetchMessages()
    ->channels(string|Array<string>)
    ->maximumPerChannel(Int)
    ->start(string)
    ->end(string)
    ->includeMessageActions(Boolean)
    ->includeMeta(Boolean)
    ->includeMessageType(Boolean)
    ->includeCustomMessageType(Boolean)
    ->includeUuid(Boolean)
* required
ParameterDescription
channels *
Type: string or Array<string>
Default:
n/a
Specifies the channels for which to return history. Maximum of 500 channels are allowed.
maximumPerChannel
Type: Int
Default:
25 or 100
Specifies the number of historical messages to return. If includeMessageActions is True, method is limited to single channel and 25 is the default (and maximum) value; otherwise, default and maximum is 100 for a single channel, or 25 for multiple channels.
start
Type: string
Default:
n/a
Timetoken delimiting the exclusive start of the time slice from which to pull messages.
end
Type: string
Default:
n/a
Timetoken delimiting the inclusive end of the time slice from which to pull messages.
includeMessageActions
Type: Boolean
Default:
False
Set to True to retrieve history messages with their associated message reactions. If you include message reactions, the Messages()` method is limited to one channel only.
includeMeta
Type: Boolean
Default:
False
Whether to include message metadata within response or not.
includeMessageType
Type: Boolean
Default:
n/a
Indicates whether to retrieve messages with PubNub message type.

For more information, refer to Retrieving Messages.
includeCustomMessageType
Type: Boolean
Default:
n/a
Indicates whether to retrieve messages with the custom message type.

For more information, refer to Retrieving Messages.
includeUuid
Type: Boolean
Default:
n/a
Whether to include user ID of the sender.

Basic Usage​

Retrieve the last message on a channel:

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.

<?php

// Include Composer autoloader (adjust path if needed)
require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PubNub\PNConfiguration;
use PubNub\PubNub;
use PubNub\Exceptions\PubNubServerException;
use PubNub\Exceptions\PubNubException;

// Create configuration with demo keys
$pnConfig = new PNConfiguration();
$pnConfig->setPublishKey("demo");
$pnConfig->setSubscribeKey("demo");
$pnConfig->setUserId("fetch-messages-demo-user");
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Returns​

The fetchMessages() operation returns an PNFetchMessagesResult which contains the following fields:

PNFetchMessagesResult​

MethodDescription
channels
Type: Array
Array of PNFetchMessageItem
startTimetoken
Type: Int
Start timetoken.
endTimetoken
Type: Int
End timetoken.

PNFetchMessageItem​

MethodDescription
message
Type: string
The message
meta
Type: Any
Meta value
messageType
Type: Any
Type of the message
customMessageType
Type: Any
Custom type of the message
uuid
Type: string
UUID of the sender
timetoken
Type: Int
Timetoken of the message
actions
Type: List
A 3-dimensional List of message reactions, grouped by action type and value

History​

Requires Message Persistence

This method requires that Message Persistence is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal.

This function fetches historical messages of a channel.

It is possible to control how messages are returned and in what order, for example you can:

  • Search for messages starting on the newest end of the timeline (default behavior - reverse = false)
  • Search for messages from the oldest end of the timeline by setting reverse to true.
  • Page through results by providing a start OR end timetoken.
  • Retrieve a slice of the time line by providing both a start AND end timetoken.
  • Limit the number of messages to a specific quantity using the count parameter.
Start & End parameter usage clarity

If only the start parameter is specified (without end), you will receive messages that are older than and up to that start timetoken value. If only the end parameter is specified (without start) you will receive messages that match that end timetoken value and newer. Specifying values for both start and end parameters will return messages between those timetoken values (inclusive on the end value). Keep in mind that you will still receive a maximum of 100 messages even if there are more messages that meet the timetoken values. Iterative calls to history adjusting the start timetoken is necessary to page through the full set of results if more than 100 messages meet the timetoken values.

Method(s)​

To run History you can use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK:

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel(String)
    ->reverse(bool)
    ->includeTimetoken(bool)
    ->start(integer)
    ->end(integer)
    ->count(integer)
    ->sync();
* required
ParameterDescription
channel *
Type: String
Default:
n/a
Specifies channel to return history messages from.
reverse
Type: Boolean
Default:
false
Setting to true will traverse the time line in reverse starting with the oldest message first.
includeTimetoken
Type: Boolean
Default:
false
Whether event dates timetokens should be included in response or not.
start
Type: Integer
Default:
n/a
Timetoken delimiting the start of time slice (exclusive) to pull messages from.
end
Type: Integer
Default:
n/a
Timetoken delimiting the end of time slice (inclusive) to pull messages from.
count
Type: Integer
Default:
n/a
Specifies the number of historical messages to return.
tip
Using the reverse parameter

Messages are always returned sorted in ascending time direction from history regardless of reverse. The reverse direction matters when you have more than 100 (or count, if it's set) messages in the time interval, in which case reverse determines the end of the time interval from which it should start retrieving the messages.

Basic Usage​

Retrieve the last 100 messages on a channel:

$result = $pubnub->history()
              ->channel("history_channel")
              ->count(100)
              ->sync();

Response​

The history() operation returns a PNHistoryResult which contains the following operations:

MethodDescription
getMessages()
Type: Array
array of messages of type PNHistoryItemResult. See PNHistoryItemResult for more details.
getStartTimetoken()
Type: Integer
Start timetoken.
getEndTimetoken()
Type: Integer
End timetoken.

PNHistoryItemResult​

MethodDescription
getTimetoken()
Type: Integer
Timetoken of the message.
getEntry()
Type: Object
Message.

Other Examples​

Use history() to retrieve the three oldest messages by retrieving from the time line in reverse​

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->count(3)
    ->reverse(true)
    ->sync();
Response​
PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult Object(
    [messages:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => Array(
        [0] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 11
                [b] => 22
            )
            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 1111
        )
        [1] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 33
                [b] => 44
            )
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Use history() to retrieve messages newer than a given timetoken by paging from oldest message to newest message starting at a single point in time (exclusive)​

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->start(13847168620721752)
    ->reverse(true)
    ->sync();
Response​
PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult Object(
    [messages:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => Array(
        [0] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array
                (
                    [a] => 11
                    [b] => 22
                )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 1111
        )
        [1] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 33
show all 36 lines

Use history() to retrieve messages until a given timetoken by paging from newest message to oldest message until a specific end point in time (inclusive)​

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->count(100)
    ->start(-1)
    ->end(13847168819178600)
    ->reverse(true)
    ->sync();
Response​
PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult Object(
    [messages:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => Array(
        [0] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 11
                [b] => 22
            )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 1111
        )
        [1] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 33
                [b] => 44
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Include timetoken in history response​

$pubnub->history()
    ->channel("my_channel")
    ->count(100)
    ->includeTimetoken(true)
    ->sync();

Delete Messages from History​

Requires Message Persistence

This method requires that Message Persistence is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal.

Removes the messages from the history of a specific channel.

Required setting

There is a setting to accept delete from history requests for a key, which you must enable by checking the Enable Delete-From-History checkbox in the key settings for your key in the Admin Portal.

Requires Initialization with secret key.

Method(s)​

To Delete Messages from History you can use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK.

$pubnub->deleteMessages()
    ->channel(String)
    ->start(integer)
    ->end(integer)
    ->sync()
* required
ParameterDescription
channel *
Type: String
Default:
n/a
Specifies channels to delete messages from.
start
Type: Integer
Default:
n/a
Timetoken delimiting the start of time slice (inclusive) to delete messages from.
end
Type: Integer
Default:
n/a
Timetoken delimiting the end of time slice (exclusive) to delete messages from.

Basic Usage​

$pubnub->deleteMessages()
    ->channel("ch")
    ->start(123)
    ->end(456)
    ->sync();

Other Examples​

Delete specific message from history​

To delete a specific message, pass the publish timetoken (received from a successful publish) in the End parameter and timetoken +/- 1 in the Start parameter. For example, if 15526611838554310 is the publish timetoken, pass 15526611838554309 in Start and 15526611838554310 in End parameters respectively as shown in the following code snippet.

$pubnub->deleteMessages()
    ->channel("ch")
    ->start(15526611838554309)
    ->end(15526611838554310)
    ->sync();

Message Counts​

Requires Message Persistence

This method requires that Message Persistence is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal.

Returns the number of messages published on one or more channels since a given time. The count returned is the number of messages in history with a timetoken value greater than or equal to than the passed value in the channelsTimetokenparameter.

Unlimited message retention

For keys with unlimited message retention enabled, this method considers only messages published in the last 30 days.

Method(s)​

You can use the following method(s) in the PHP SDK:

$pubnub->messageCounts()
    ->channels(array)
    ->channelsTimetoken(array)
* required
ParameterDescription
channels *
Type: Array
Default:
n/a
The channels to fetch the message count
channelsTimetoken *
Type: Array
Default:
n/a
Array of timetokens, in order of the channels list. Specify a single timetoken to apply it to all channels. Otherwise, the list of timetokens must be the same length as the list of channels, or the function returns a PNStatus with an error flag.

Basic Usage​

$response = $pubnub->messageCounts()
    ->channels(["mychannel"])
    ->channelsTimetoken(["15513576173381797"])
    ->sync();

print_r($response->getChannels());

Returns​

The operation returns a PNMessageCountsResult which contains the following operations

MethodDescription
getChannels()
Type: Array
An associative array with channel name as key and messages count as value. Channels without messages have a count of 0. Channels with 10,000 messages or more have a count of 10000.

Other Examples​

Retrieve count of messages using different timetokens for each channel​

$response = $pubnub->messageCounts()
    ->channels(["mychannel", "another_channel"])
    ->channelsTimetoken(["15513576173381797","15513574291261651"])
    ->sync();

print_r($response->getChannels());
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