Message Persistence API for PubNub 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 actions
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. Read the support page on enabling add-on features on your keys.

This function fetches historical messages from one or multiple channels. The includeMessageActions flag also allows you to fetch message actions 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)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`channels`	string or `Array<string>`	Yes	n/a	Specifies the channels for which to return history. Maximum of 500 channels are allowed.
`maximumPerChannel`	Int	No	`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`	string	No	n/a	Timetoken delimiting the exclusive start of the time slice from which to pull messages.
`end`	string	No	n/a	Timetoken delimiting the inclusive end of the time slice from which to pull messages.
`includeMessageActions`	Boolean	No	`False`	Set to `True` to retrieve history messages with their associated message actions. If you include message actions, the Messages()` method is limited to one channel only.
`includeMeta`	Boolean	No	`False`	Whether to include message metadata within response or not.
`includeMessageType`	Boolean	No	n/a	Indicates whether to retrieve messages with PubNub message type. For more information, refer to Retrieving Messages.
`includeCustomMessageType`	Boolean	No	n/a	Indicates whether to retrieve messages with the custom message type. For more information, refer to Retrieving Messages.
`includeUuid`	Boolean	No	n/a	Whether to include user ID of the sender.

Basic Usage

Retrieve the last message on a channel:

$pubnub.fetchMessages()
    ->channels("my_channel")
    ->maximumPerChannel(1)
    ->includeMessageActions(True)
    ->includeMeta(True)
    ->includeMessageType(True)
    ->includeCustomMessageType(True)
    ->includeUuid(True)
    ->sync()

Returns

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

PNFetchMessagesResult

Method	Type	Description
`channels`	Array	Array of `PNFetchMessageItem`
`startTimetoken`	Int	Start timetoken.
`endTimetoken`	Int	End timetoken.

PNFetchMessageItem

Method	Type	Description
`message`	string	The message
`meta`	Any	Meta value
`messageType`	Any	Type of the message
`customMessageType`	Any	Custom type of the message
`uuid`	string	UUID of the sender
`timetoken`	Int	Timetoken of the message
`actions`	List	A 3-dimensional List of message actions, 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. Read the support page on enabling add-on features on your keys.

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();

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`channel`	String	Yes		Specifies `channel` to return history messages from.
`reverse`	Boolean	Optional	`false`	Setting to `true` will traverse the time line in reverse starting with the oldest message first.
`includeTimetoken`	Boolean	Optional	`false`	Whether event dates timetokens should be included in response or not.
`start`	Integer	Optional		Timetoken delimiting the start of time slice (exclusive) to pull messages from.
`end`	Integer	Optional		Timetoken delimiting the end of time slice (inclusive) to pull messages from.
`count`	Integer	Optional		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:

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

PNHistoryItemResult

Method	Type	Description
`getTimetoken()`	Integer	`Timetoken` of the message.
`getEntry()`	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
            )
show all 31 lines

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
show all 35 lines

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. Read the support page on enabling add-on features on your keys.

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()

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`channel`	String	Yes	Specifies `channels` to delete messages from.
`start`	Integer	Optional	Timetoken delimiting the `start` of time slice (inclusive) to delete messages from.
`end`	Integer	Optional	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(15526611838554310)
    ->end(15526611838554309)
    ->sync();

Message Counts

Requires Message Persistence

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

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)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`channels`	Array	Yes		The `channels` to fetch the message count
`channelsTimetoken`	Array	Yes		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

Method	Type	Description
`getChannels()`	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());

Fetch History​

Requires Message Persistence

Method(s)​

Basic Usage​

Returns​

PNFetchMessagesResult​

PNFetchMessageItem​

History​

Requires Message Persistence

Start & End parameter usage clarity

Method(s)​

tip

Basic Usage​

Response​

PNHistoryItemResult​

Other Examples​

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

Response​

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)​

Response​

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)​

Response​

Include timetoken in history response​

Delete Messages from History​

Requires Message Persistence

Required setting

Method(s)​

Basic Usage​

Other Examples​

Delete specific message from history​

Message Counts​

Requires Message Persistence

Unlimited message retention

Method(s)​

Basic Usage​

Returns​

Other Examples​

Retrieve count of messages using different timetokens for each channel​

Fetch History

Method(s)

Basic Usage

Returns

PNFetchMessagesResult

PNFetchMessageItem

History

Method(s)

Basic Usage

Response

PNHistoryItemResult

Other Examples

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

Response

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)

Response

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)

Response

Include timetoken in history response

Delete Messages from History

Method(s)

Basic Usage

Other Examples

Delete specific message from history

Message Counts

Method(s)

Basic Usage

Returns

Other Examples

Retrieve count of messages using different timetokens for each channel