Presence API for PubNub Python SDK

Presence enables you to track the online and offline status of users and devices in real time and store custom state information. Presence provides authoritative information on:

• When a user has joined or left a channel
• Who, and how many, users are subscribed to a particular channel
• Which channel(s) an individual user is subscribed to
• Associated state information for these users

Learn more about our Presence feature here.

Request execution and return values

You can decide whether to perform the Python SDK operations synchronously or asynchronously.

• .sync() returns an Envelope object, which has two fields: Envelope.result, whose type differs for each API, and Envelope.status of type PnStatus.

  pubnub.publish() \
      .channel("myChannel") \
      .message("Hello from PubNub Python SDK") \
      .sync()

• .pn_async(callback) returns None and passes the values of Envelope.result and Envelope.status to a callback you must define beforehand.

  def my_callback_function(result, status):
      print(f'TT: {result.timetoken}, status: {status.category.name}')
  
  pubnub.publish() \
      .channel("myChannel") \
      .message("Hello from PubNub Python SDK") \
      .pn_async(my_callback_function)

Here Now

Requires Presence add-on

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

You can obtain information about the current state of a channel including a list of unique user-ids currently subscribed to the channel and the total occupancy count of the channel by calling the here_now() function in your application.

Cache

This method has a 3 second response cache time.

Method(s)

To call Here Now you can use the following method(s) in the Python SDK:

pubnub.here_now() \
    .channels(String|List|Tuple) \
    .channel_groups(String|List|Tuple) \
    .include_state(Boolean) \
    .include_uuids(Boolean)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
channels	String | List | Tuple	Optional		The channels to get the here now details.
channel_groups	String | List | Tuple	Optional		The channel groups to get the here now details.
include_state	Boolean	Optional	False	If True, the response will include the presence states of the users for channels/channelGroups.
include_uuids	Boolean	Optional	True	If True, the response will include the UUIDs of the connected clients.

Basic Usage

Get a list of UUIDs subscribed to channel

Builder Pattern

def here_now_callback(result, status):
    if status.is_error():
        # handle error
        return

    for channel_data in result.channels:
        print("---")
        print(f"channel: {channel_data.channel_name}")
        print(f"occupancy: {channel_data.occupancy}")

        print(f"occupants: {channel_data.channel_name}")
    for occupant in channel_data.occupants:
        print(f"uuid: {occupant.uuid}, state: {occupant.state}")

pubnub.here_now()\

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Named Arguments

here_now = pubnub.here_now(channels["my_channel", "demo"], include_uuids=True).sync()

if not here_now.status.is_error():
    for channel_data in here_now.result.channels:
        print(f"channel: {channel_data.channel_name}")
        print(f"occupancy: {channel_data.occupancy}")
        print(f"occupants: {channel_data.channel_name}")
    for occupant in channel_data.occupants:
        print(f"uuid: {occupant.uuid}, state: {occupant.state}")

Returns

The here_now() operation returns an Envelope which contains the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
result	PNHereNowResult	A detailed object containing the result of the operation.
status	PNStatus	A status object with additional information.

PNHereNowResult

Field	Type	Description
total_channels	Int	Total channels.
total_occupancy	Int	Total occupancy
channels	Dictionary	A dictionary with values of PNHereNowChannelData for each channel.

PNHereNowChannelData

Field	Type	Description
channel_name	String	channel name.
occupancy	Int	occupancy of the channel.
occupants	List	A list of PNHereNowOccupantData.

PNHereNowOccupantData

Field	Type	Description
uuid	String	uuid of the user.
state	Dictionary	state of the user.

Other Examples

Returning State

Requires Presence add-on

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

envelope = pubnub.here_now() \
    .channels("my_channel") \
    .include_uuids(True) \
    .include_state(True) \
    .sync()

Example Response

{
    total_channels: 1,
    channels: [{
        channel_name: "my_channel",
        occupancy: 1,
        occupants: [{
            uuid: "myUuid1"
            state: {
                "abcd": {
                    "age": 15
                }
            }
        }]
    }],
    total_occupancy: 1

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Return Occupancy Only

Requires Presence add-on

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

You can return only the occupancy information for a single channel by specifying the channel and setting UUIDs to False:

envelope = pubnub.here_now() \
    .channels("my_channel") \
    .include_uuids(False) \
    .include_state(False) \
    .sync()

Example Response

{
    total_channels: 1,
    channels: [{
        channel_name: "my_channel",
        occupancy: 3,
        occupants: []
    }],
    total_occupancy: 3
}

Here Now for Channel Groups

envelope = pubnub.here_now() \
    .channel_groups(['cg1', 'cg2', 'cg3']) \
    .include_uuids(True) \
    .include_state(True) \
    .sync()

Example Response

{
    total_channels: 1,
    channels: [
        {
            channel_name: "my_channel",
            occupancy: 1,
            occupants: [{
                uuid: "143r34f34t34fq34q34q3",
                state: None
            }]
        },
        {
            occupancy: 1,
            occupants: [{
                uuid: "123123234t234f34fq3dq",

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Where Now

Requires Presence add-on

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

You can obtain information about the current list of channels to which a UUID is subscribed to by calling the where_now() function in your application.

Timeout events

If the app is killed/crashes and restarted (or the page containing the PubNub instance is refreshed on the browser) within the heartbeat window no timeout event is generated.

Method(s)

To call where_now() you can use the following method(s) in the Python SDK:

pubnub.where_now() \
    .uuid(String)

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
uuid	String	Optional	uuid to get info on.

Basic Usage

You simply need to define the uuid and the callback function to be used to send the data to as in the example below.

Get a list of channels a UUID is subscribed to

envelope = pubnub.where_now().sync()

Returns

The where_now() operation returns an Envelope which contains the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
result	PNWhereNowResult	A detailed object containing the result of the operation.
status	PNStatus	A status object with additional information.

PNWhereNowResult

Field	Type	Description
channels	List	The list of channels where the UUID is present.

Other Examples

Obtain information about the current list of channels of some other UUID

Builder Pattern

envelope = pubnub.where_now() \
    .uuid('some-other-uuid') \
    .sync()

Named Arguments

envelope = pubnub.where_now(uuid='some-other-uuid').sync()

User State

Requires Presence add-on

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

The state API is used to set/get key/value pairs specific to a subscriber uuid.

State information is supplied as a JSON object of key/value pairs.

Presence state format

Presence state must be expressed as a dict. When calling set_state, be sure to supply an initialized dict which can be serialized.

Method(s)

Set State

pubnub.set_state() \
    .channels(String|List|Tuple) \
    .channel_groups(String|List|Tuple) \
    .state(Dictionary)

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
channels	String | List | Tuple	Optional	channels to set state.
channel_groups	String | List | Tuple	Optional	channel groups to set state.
state	Dictionary	Optional	state to set.

Get State

pubnub.get_state() \
    .channels(String|List|Tuple) \
    .channel_groups(String|List|Tuple) \
    .uuid(String)

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
channels	String | List | Tuple	Optional	channels to get state.
channel_groups	String | List | Tuple	Optional	channel groups to get state.
uuid	String	Optional	uuid to get state from.

Basic Usage

Set State

Builder Pattern

my_state = {
    'age': 20
}
envelope = pubnub.set_state() \
    .channels(['ch1', 'ch2', 'ch3']) \
    .state(my_state) \
    .sync()

Named Arguments

envelope = pubnub.set_state(channels=['ch1', 'ch2', 'ch3'], state={'age': 20}).sync()

Get State

Builder Pattern

envelope = pubnub.get_state() \
    .channels(['ch1', 'ch2', 'ch3']) \
    .uuid('such_uuid') \
    .sync()

Named Arguments

envelope = pubnub.get_state(channels=['ch1', 'ch2', 'ch3'], uuid='such_uuid').sync()

Returns

The set_state() operation returns an Envelope which contains the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
result	PNSetStateResult	A detailed object containing the result of the operation.
status	PNStatus	A status object with additional information.

PNSetStateResult

Field	Type	Description
state	Dictionary	Dictionary of UUIDs and the user states.

The get_state() operation returns an Envelope which contains the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
result	PNGetStateResult	A detailed object containing the result of the operation.
status	PNStatus	A status object with additional information.

PNGetStateResult

Field	Type	Description
channels	Dictionary	Dictionary of channels and the user states.

Other Examples

Set state for channels in channel group

Builder Pattern

my_state = {
    'age': 20
}
envelope = pubnub.set_state() \
    .channel_groups(['gr1', 'gr2', 'gr3']) \
    .state(my_state) \
    .sync()

Named Arguments

envelope = pubnub.set_state(channel_groups=['gr1', 'gr2', 'gr3'], state={'age': 20}).sync()

The above code would return the following response to the client:

{
    first  : "Robert",
    last   : "Plant",
    age    : 59,
    region : "UK"
}