Publish/Subscribe API for PubNub Go SDK

The foundation of the PubNub service is the ability to send a message and have it delivered anywhere in less than 100ms. Send a message to just one other person, or broadcast to thousands of subscribers at once.

For higher-level conceptual details on publishing and subscribing, refer to Connection Management and to Publish Messages.

Publish

The Publish() function is used to send a message to all subscribers of a channel. To publish a message you must first specify a valid PublishKey at initialization. A successfully published message is replicated across the PubNub Real-Time Network and sent simultaneously to all subscribed clients on a channel.

Messages in transit can be secured from potential eavesdroppers with SSL/TLS by setting ssl to true during initialization.

Publish Anytime

It's not required to be subscribed to a channel in order to publish to that channel.

Message Data

The message argument can contain any JSON serializable data, including: Objects, Arrays, Ints and Strings. data should not contain special Go classes or functions as these will not serialize. String content can include any single-byte or multi-byte UTF-8 character.

Don't JSON serialize

It is important to note that you should not JSON serialize when sending signals/messages via PUBNUB. Why? Because the serialization is done for you automatically. Instead just pass the full object as the message payload. PubNub takes care of everything for you.

Message Size

The maximum number of characters per message is 32 KiB by default. The maximum message size is based on the final escaped character count, including the channel name. An ideal message size is under 1800 bytes which allows a message to be compressed and sent using single IP datagram (1.5 KiB) providing optimal network performance.

If the message you publish exceeds the configured size, you will receive the following message:

Message Too Large Error

["PUBLISHED",[0,"Message Too Large","13524237335750949"]]

For further details, check Calculating Message Payload Size Before Publish.

Message Publish Rate

Messages can be published as fast as bandwidth conditions will allow. There is a soft limit based on max throughput since messages will be discarded if the subscriber can't keep pace with the publisher.

For example, if 200 messages are published simultaneously before a subscriber has had a chance to receive any messages, the subscriber may not receive the first 100 messages because the message queue has a limit of only 100 messages stored in memory.

Publishing to Multiple Channels

It is not possible to publish a message to multiple channels simultaneously. The message must be published to one channel at a time.

Publishing Messages Reliably

There are some best practices to ensure messages are delivered when publishing to a channel:

  • Publish to any given channel in a serial manner (not concurrently).
  • Check that the return code is success (for example, [1,"Sent","136074940..."])
  • Publish the next message only after receiving a success return code.
  • If a failure code is returned ([0,"blah","<timetoken>"]), retry the publish.
  • Avoid exceeding the in-memory queue's capacity of 100 messages. An overflow situation (aka missed messages) can occur if slow subscribers fail to keep up with the publish pace in a given period of time.
  • Throttle publish bursts in accordance with your app's latency needs, for example, Publish no faster than 5 msgs per second to any one channel.

Method(s)

To Publish a message you can use the following method(s) in the Go SDK:

pn.Publish().
Message(interface{}).
Channel(string).
ShouldStore(bool).
UsePost(bool).
Meta(interface{}).
QueryParam(queryParam).
Execute()
ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
MessageinterfaceYesThe payload
ChannelstringYesDestination of Message
ShouldStoreboolOptionalaccount defaultStore in history
UsePostboolOptionalfalseUse POST to Publish
MetainterfaceOptionalnullMeta data object which can be used with the filtering ability
TTLintOptionalSet a per message time to live in Message Persistence.
  1. If ShouldStore = true, and TTL = 0, the message is stored with no expiry time.
  2. If ShouldStore = true and TTL = X (X is an Integer value), the message is stored with an expiry time of X hours.
  3. If ShouldStore = false, the TTL parameter is ignored.
  4. If TTL is not specified, then expiration of the message defaults back to the expiry value for the key.
QueryParammap[string]stringOptionalnilQueryParam accepts a map, the keys and values of the map are passed as the query string parameters of the URL called by the API.

Basic Usage

Publish a message to a channel

res, status, err := pn.Publish().
Channel("my-channel").
Message([]string{"Hello", "there"}).
UsePost(true).
Execute()

fmt.Println(res, status, err)
Subscribe to the channel

Before running the above publish example, either using the Debug Console or in a separate script running in a separate terminal window, subscribe to the same channel that is being published to.

Response

MethodTypeDescription
TimestampintAn int representation of the timetoken when the message was published

Other Examples

Publish with metadata

res, status, err := pn.Publish().
Channel("my-channel").
Message([]string{"Hello", "there"}).
Meta(map[string]interface{}{
"name": "Alex",
}).
Execute()

Publish Array

res, status, err := pn.Publish().
Channel("my-channel").
Message([]string{"Hello", "there"}).
Meta([]string{"1a", "2b", "3c"}).
Execute()

Store the published message for 10 hours

res, status, err := pn.Publish().
Channel("my-channel").
Message("test").
ShouldStore(true).
TTL(10).
Execute()

Push Payload Helper

You can use the helper method as an input to the Message parameter, to format the payload for publishing Push messages. For more info on the helper method, check Create Push Payload Helper Section

aps := pubnub.PNAPSData{
Alert: "apns alert",
Badge: 1,
Sound: "ding",
Custom: map[string]interface{}{
"aps_key1": "aps_value1",
"aps_key2": "aps_value2",
},
}

apns := pubnub.PNAPNSData{
APS: aps,
Custom: map[string]interface{}{
"apns_key1": "apns_value1",
"apns_key2": "apns_value2",
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Fire

The fire endpoint allows the client to send a message to Functions Event Handlers and Illuminate. These messages will go directly to any Event Handlers registered on the channel that you fire to and will trigger their execution. The content of the fired request will be available for processing within the Event Handler. The message sent via fire() isn't replicated, and so won't be received by any subscribers to the channel. The message is also not stored in history.

Method(s)

To Fire a message you can use the following method(s) in the Go SDK:

pn.Fire().
Message(interface{}).
Channel(string).
UsePost(bool).
Meta(interface{}).
QueryParam(queryParam).
Execute()
ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
MessageinterfaceYesThe payload
ChannelstringYesDestination of Message
UsePostboolOptionalfalseUse POST to Publish
MetainterfaceOptionalnullMeta data object which can be used with the filtering ability
TTLintOptionalSet a per message time to live in Message Persistence.
  1. If ShouldStore = true, and TTL = 0, the message is stored with no expiry time.
  2. If ShouldStore = true and TTL = X (X is an Integer value), the message is stored with an expiry time of X hours.
  3. If ShouldStore = false, the TTL parameter is ignored.
  4. If TTL is not specified, then expiration of the message defaults back to the expiry value for the key.
QueryParammap[string]stringOptionalnilQueryParam accepts a map, the keys and values of the map are passed as the query string parameters of the URL called by the API.

Basic Usage

Fire a message to a channel

res, status, err := pn.Fire().
Channel("my-channel").
Message("test").
Execute()

Signal

The signal() function is used to send a signal to all subscribers of a channel.

By default, signals are limited to a message payload size of 64 bytes. This limit applies only to the payload, and not to the URI or headers. If you require a larger payload size, please contact support.

Method(s)

To Signal a message you can use the following method(s) in the Go SDK:

pubnub.Signal().
Message(interface{}).
Channel(string).
Execute()
ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
MessageinterfaceYesThe payload.
ChannelstringYesDestination of Message.

Basic Usage

Signal a message to a channel

result, status, err := pubnub.Signal().
Message([]string{
"Hello", "Signals"
}).
Channel("foo").
Execute();

Response

MethodTypeDescription
TimestampintAn int representation of the timetoken when Signal was sent

Subscribe

Receive messages

Your app receives messages and events via event listeners. The event listener is a single point through which your app receives all the messages, signals, and events that are sent in any channel you are subscribed to.

For more information about adding a listener, refer to the Event Listeners section.

Description

This function causes the client to create an open TCP socket to the PubNub Real-Time Network and begin listening for messages on a specified channel. To subscribe to a channel the client must send the appropriate SubscribeKey at initialization. By default a newly subscribed client will only receive messages published to the channel after the Subscribe() call completes.

Connectivity notification

You can be notified of connectivity via the envelope.status. By waiting for the envelope.status to return before attempting to publish, you can avoid a potential race condition on clients that subscribe and immediately publish messages before the subscribe has completed.

Using Go SDK, if a client becomes disconnected from a channel, it can automatically attempt to reconnect to that channel and retrieve any available messages that were missed during that period by setting restore to true. By default a client will attempt to reconnect after exceeding a 320 second connection timeout.

Unsubscribing from all channels

Unsubscribing from all channels, and then subscribing to a new channel Y is not the same as subscribing to channel Y and then unsubscribing from the previously-subscribed channel(s). Unsubscribing from all channels resets the last-received timetoken and thus, there could be some gaps in the subscription that may lead to message loss.

Method(s)

To Subscribe to a channel you can use the following method(s) in the Go SDK:

pn.Subscribe().
Channels([]string).
ChannelGroups([]string).
Timetoken(int64).
WithPresence(bool).
QueryParam(queryParam).
Execute()
ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
Channels[]stringOptionalSubscribe to channels, Either channel or channel_group is required.
ChannelGroups[]stringOptionalSubscribe to channel_groups, Either channel or channel_group is required.
Timetokenint64OptionalPass a timetoken.
WithPresenceboolOptionalAlso subscribe to related presence information
QueryParammap[string]stringOptionalQueryParam accepts a map, the keys and values of the map are passed as the query string parameters of the URL called by the API.

Basic Usage

Subscribe to a channel:

pn.Subscribe().
Channels([]string{"my-channel"}). // subscribe to channels
Execute()

Response

PNMessage

PNMessage is returned in the Listeners

The Subscribe() operation returns a PNStatus which contains the following operations:

Property NameTypeDescription
CategoryStatusCategoryDetails of StatusCategory are here
ErrorboolThis is true if an error occurred in the execution of the operation.
ErrorDataerrorError data of the exception (if Error is true).
StatusCodeintStatus code of the execution.
OperationOperationTypeOperation type of the request.

The Subscribe() operation returns a PNMessage for messages, for both Publish and Signal messages, which contains the following operations:

MethodTypeDescription
MessageinterfaceThe message sent on channel.
ChannelstringThe channel on which the message was received.
SubscriptionstringThe channel group or wildcard subscription match (if exists).
Timetokenint64Timetoken for the message.
UserMetadatainterfaceUser metadata.
SubscribedChannelstringCurrent subscribed channel.
PublisherstringUUID of publisher.

The Subscribe() operation returns a PNPresence for messages which contains the following operations:

MethodTypeDescription
EventstringEvents like join, leave, timeout, state-change.
UUIDstringUUID for event.
Timestampint64Timestamp for event.
OccupancyintCurrent occupancy.
SubscriptionstringMessage has been received on Channel.
Timetokenint64Timetoken of the message.
StateinterfaceState of the UUID.
UserMetadatamap[string]interfaceUser metadata.
SubscribedChannelstringCurrent subscribed channel.
ChannelstringThe channel for which the message belongs.

The Subscribe() operation returns a PNUUIDEvent for UUID Events which contains the following operations:

MethodTypeDescription
EventPNObjectsEventEvents like PNObjectsEventRemove, PNObjectsEventSet.
TimestampstringTimestamp for event.
SubscriptionstringEvent has been received on Channel.
SubscribedChannelstringCurrent subscribed channel.
ChannelstringThe channel for which the event belongs.
UUIDstringThe UUID.
NamestringDisplay name for the space.
ExternalIDstringUser's identifier in an external system
ProfileURLstringThe URL of the user's profile picture
EmailstringThe user's email address.
Custommap[string]interfaceMap of string and interface with supported data types.
UpdatedstringLast updated date.
ETagstringThe ETag.

The Subscribe() operation returns a PNChannelEvent for Channel Events which contains the following operations:

MethodTypeDescription
EventPNObjectsEventEvents like PNObjectsEventRemove, PNObjectsEventSet.
TimestampstringTimestamp for event.
SubscriptionstringEvent has been received on Channel.
SubscribedChannelstringCurrent subscribed channel.
ChannelstringThe channel for which the event belongs.
ChannelIDstringThe Channel ID.
NamestringDisplay name for the space.
DescriptionstringDescription of the space.
Custommap[string]interfaceMap of string and interface with supported data types.
UpdatedstringLast updated date.
ETagstringThe ETag.

The Subscribe() operation returns a PNMembershipEvent for Membership Events which contains the following operations:

MethodTypeDescription
EventPNObjectsEventEvents like PNObjectsEventRemove, PNObjectsEventSet.
TimestampstringTimestamp for event.
SubscriptionstringEvent has been received on Channel.
SubscribedChannelstringCurrent subscribed channel.
ChannelstringThe channel for which the event belongs.
ChannelIDstringThe Channel ID.
UUIDstringThe UUID.
Custommap[string]interfaceMap of string and interface with supported data types.

The Subscribe() operation returns a PNMessageActionsEvent for Message Reactions Events which contains the following operations:

MethodTypeDescription
EventPNMessageActionsEventTypeEvents like PNMessageActionsAdded, PNMessageActionsRemoved.
DataPNMessageActionsResponseMessage Reactions for event.
SubscriptionstringEvent has been received on Channel.
SubscribedChannelstringCurrent subscribed channel.
ChannelstringThe channel for which the event belongs.

Other Examples

Basic subscribe with logging

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

config := pubnub.NewConfig()
// publishKey from admin panel (only required if publishing)
config.PublishKey = "demo" // required
// subscribeKey from admin panel
config.SubscribeKey = "demo"

pn := pubnub.NewPubNub(config)

pn.Subscribe().
Channels([]string{"my-channel"}).
Execute()

Subscribing to multiple channels

It's possible to subscribe to more than one channel using the Multiplexing feature. The example shows how to do that using an array to specify the channel names.

Alternative subscription methods

You can also use Wildcard Subscribe and Channel Groups to subscribe to multiple channels at a time. To use these features, the Stream Controller add-on must be enabled on your keyset in the Admin Portal.

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

pn.Subscribe().
Channels([]string{"my-channel1", "my-channel2"}).
Execute()

Subscribing to a Presence channel

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.

For any given channel there is an associated Presence channel. You can subscribe directly to the channel by appending -pnpres to the channel name. For example the channel named my_channel would have the presence channel named my_channel-pnpres.

pn.Subscribe().
Channels([]string{"my-channel"}).
WithPresence(true).
Execute()

Sample Responses

Join Event
if presence.Event == "join" {
presence.UUID // 175c2c67-b2a9-470d-8f4b-1db94f90e39e
presence.Timestamp // 1345546797
presence.Occupancy // 2
}
Leave Event
if presence.Event == "leave" {
presence.UUID // 175c2c67-b2a9-470d-8f4b-1db94f90e39e
presence.Timestamp // 1345546797
presence.Occupancy // 2
}
Timeout Event
if presence.Event == "timeout" {
presence.UUID // 175c2c67-b2a9-470d-8f4b-1db94f90e39e
presence.Timestamp // 1345546797
presence.Occupancy // 2
}
Custom Presence Event (State Change)
if presence.Event == "state-change" {
presence.Timestamp
presence.Occupancy
}
Interval Event
if presence.Event == "interval" {
presence.UUID // 175c2c67-b2a9-470d-8f4b-1db94f90e39e
presence.Timestamp // 1345546797
presence.Occupancy // 2
}

When a channel is in interval mode with presence_deltas pnconfig flag enabled, the interval message may also include the following fields which contain an array of changed UUIDs since the last interval message.

  • joined
  • left
  • timedout

For example, this interval message indicates there were 2 new UUIDs that joined and 1 timed out UUID since the last interval:

if presence.Event == "interval" {
presence.Occupancy // # users in channel
presence.Join // [uuid1 uuid2]
presence.Timeout //[uuid3]
presence.Timestamp // unix timestamp
}

If the full interval message is greater than 30KB (since the max publish payload is ∼32KB), none of the extra fields will be present. Instead there will be a here_now_refresh boolean field set to true. This indicates to the user that they should do a hereNow request to get the complete list of users present in the channel.

Wildcard subscribe to channels

Requires Stream Controller add-on

This method requires that the Stream Controller add-on is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal (with Enable Wildcard Subscribe checked). Read the support page on enabling add-on features on your keys.

Wildcard subscribes allow the client to subscribe to multiple channels using wildcard. For example, if you subscribe to a.* you will get all messages for a.b, a.c, a.x. The wildcarded * portion refers to any portion of the channel string name after the dot (.).

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

pn.Subscribe().
Channels([]string{"foo.*"}). // subscribe to channels information
Execute()
Wildcard grants and revokes

Only one level (a.*) of wildcarding is supported. If you grant on * or a.b.*, the grant will treat * or a.b.* as a single channel named either * or a.b.*. You can also revoke permissions from multiple channels using wildcards but only if you previously granted permissions using the same wildcards. Wildcard revokes, similarly to grants, only work one level deep, like a.*.

Subscribing with 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.

Required UUID

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

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

config := pubnub.NewConfig()
config.SubscribeKey = "demo"
config.PublishKey = "demo"

pn := pubnub.NewPubNub(config)

listener := pubnub.NewListener()
done := make(chan bool)

go func() {
for {
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Subscribe to a channel group

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.

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

pn.Subscribe().
Channels([]string{"ch1", "ch2"}). // subscribe to channels
ChannelGroups([]string{"cg1", "cg2"}). // subscribe to channel groups
Timetoken(int64(1337)). // optional, pass a timetoken
WithPresence(true). // also subscribe to related presence information
Execute()

ubscribe to the presence channel of a channel group

note
Requires Stream Controller and Presence add-ons

This method requires both the Stream Controller and Presence add-ons are enabled for your key in the Admin Portal. Read the support page on enabling add-on features on your keys.

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

pn.Subscribe().
ChannelGroups([]string{"cg1", "cg2"}). // subscribe to channel groups
Timetoken(int64(1337)). // optional, pass a timetoken
WithPresence(true). // also subscribe to related presence information
Execute()

Unsubscribe

When subscribed to a single channel, this function causes the client to issue a leave from the channel and close any open socket to the PubNub Network. For multiplexed channels, the specified channel(s) will be removed and the socket remains open until there are no more channels remaining in the list.

Unsubscribing from all channels

Unsubscribing from all channels, and then subscribing to a new channel Y is not the same as subscribing to channel Y and then unsubscribing from the previously-subscribed channel(s). Unsubscribing from all channels resets the last-received timetoken and thus, there could be some gaps in the subscription that may lead to message loss.

Method(s)

To Unsubscribe from a channel you can use the following method(s) in the Go SDK:

pn.Unsubscribe().
Channels([]string).
ChannelGroups([]string).
QueryParam(queryParam).
Execute()
ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
Channels[]stringOptionalfalseUnsubscribe to channels, Either channel or channelGroup is required.
ChannelGroups[]stringOptionalfalseUnsubscribe to channel groups, Either channel or channelGroup is required.
QueryParammap[string]stringOptionalnilQueryParam accepts a map, the keys and values of the map are passed as the query string parameters of the URL called by the API.

Basic Usage

Unsubscribe from a channel:

pn.Unsubscribe().
Channels([]string{"my-channel"}).
Execute()
Event listeners

The response of the subscription is handled by Listener. Please see the Listeners section for more details.

Rest Response from Server

The output below demonstrates the response to a successful call:

if presence.Event == "leave" {
presence.UUID // left-uuid
presence.Timestamp // 1345546797
presence.Occupancy // 2
}

Other Examples

Unsubscribing from multiple channels

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.

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

pn.Unsubscribe().
Channels([]string{"my-channel", "my-channel2"}).
Execute()
Example Response
if presence.Event == "leave" {
presence.UUID // left-uuid
presence.Timestamp // 1345546797
presence.Occupancy // 2
}

Unsubscribe from a channel group

import (
pubnub "github.com/pubnub/go"
)

pn.Unsubscribe().
ChannelGroups([]string{"cg1", "cg2"}).
Execute()

Example Response:

if presence.Event == "leave" {
presence.UUID // left-uuid
presence.Timestamp // 1345546797
presence.Occupancy // 2
}

Unsubscribe All

Unsubscribe from all channels and all channel groups

Method(s)

UnsubscribeAll()

Basic Usage

pn.UnsubscribeAll()

Returns

None

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