Configuration API for Java SDK

Breaking changes in v9.0.0

PubNub Java SDK version 9.0.0 unifies the codebases for Java and Kotlin SDKs, introduces a new way of instantiating the PubNub client, and changes asynchronous API callbacks and emitted status events. These changes can impact applications built with previous versions (< 9.0.0) of the Java SDK.

For more details about what has changed, refer to Java/Kotlin SDK migration guide.

Java complete API reference for building real-time applications on PubNub, including basic usage and sample code.

Configuration

PNConfiguration instance is storage for user-provided information which describe further PubNub client behavior. Configuration instance contains additional set of properties which allow performing precise PubNub client configuration.

Immutable configuration

Once a configuration object has been passed to the PubNub constructor, you can't change its properties.

If you require changing values dynamically consider using value overrides.

Method(s)

To create configuration instance you can use the following function in the Java SDK:

1import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;
2

3PNConfiguration.builder(UserId userId, String subscribeKey).build()

* required

Parameter	Description
subscribeKey * Type: String Default: n/a	subscribeKey from the Admin Portal.
publishKey Type: String Default: n/a	publishKey from the Admin Portal (only required if publishing).
secretKey Type: String Default: n/a	secretKey (only required for access operations, keep away from Android).
customLoggers Type: List<CustomLogger> Default: n/a	Your custom logger implementations. See Logging.
cacheBusting Type: Boolean Default: n/a	If operating behind a misbehaving proxy, allow the client to shuffle the subdomains.
secure Type: Boolean Default: true	When true TLS is enabled.
connectTimeout Type: Int Default: 5	Maximum time to establish a connection, in seconds.
subscribeTimeout Type: Int Default: 310	Subscribe request timeout, in seconds.
nonSubscribeRequestTimeout Type: Int Default: 10	Non-subscribe request timeout, in seconds.
filterExpression Type: String Default: Not set	Subscribe with a custom filter expression.
heartbeatNotificationOptions Type: PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions Default: PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.FAILURES	Heartbeat notification options. By default, the SDK alerts on failed heartbeats (equivalent to PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.FAILURES). Other options including all heartbeats (PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.ALL) and no heartbeats (PNHeartbeatNotificationOptions.NONE) are supported.
origin Type: String Default: n/a	Custom origin if needed. To request a custom domain, contact support and follow the request process.
retryConfiguration Type: RetryConfiguration Default: RetryConfiguration.Exponential (subscribe only)	Reconnection policy. Choose None, Linear(delayInSec, maxRetryNumber, excludedOperations), or Exponential(minDelayInSec, maxDelayInSec, maxRetryNumber, excludedOperations). You can exclude endpoint groups (for example, SUBSCRIBE). See SDK connection lifecycle.
presenceTimeout Type: Int Default: 300	How long the server considers the client alive for presence. The client sends periodic heartbeats to stay active. If no heartbeat arrives within the timeout, the client is marked inactive and a "timeout" event is emitted on the presence channel. Minimum 20 seconds.
heartbeatInterval Type: Int Default: 0	How often the client sends heartbeats. To shorten presence timeout, set roughly to (presenceTimeout / 2) - 1. Minimum 3. Default 0 (disabled).
proxy Type: Proxy Default: n/a	Instructs the SDK to use a proxy configuration when communicating with PubNub servers. For more details see this https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/Proxy.html
proxySelector Type: ProxySelector Default: n/a	Sets Java ProxySelector. For more details, refer to https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/ProxySelector.html
proxyAuthenticator Type: Authenticator Default: n/a	Sets Java Authenticator. For more details refer to https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/Authenticator.html
googleAppEngineNetworking Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Enable Google App Engine networking.
suppressLeaveEvents Type: Boolean Default: false	When true the SDK doesn't send out the leave requests.
maintainPresenceState Type: Boolean Default: true	Whether the custom presence state information set using pubnub.setPresenceState() should be sent every time the SDK sends a subscribe call.
cryptoModule Type: CryptoModule.createAesCbcCryptoModule(cipherKey, useRandomInitializationVector) CryptoModule.createLegacyCryptoModule(cipherKey, useRandomInitializationVector) Default: None	The cryptography module used for encryption and decryption of messages and files. Takes the cipherKey and useRandomInitializationVector parameters as arguments. For more information, refer to the cryptoModule section.
includesInstanceIdentifier Type: Boolean Default: false	Whether to include a PubNubCore.instanceId with every request.
includeRequestIdentifier Type: Boolean Default: true	Whether to include a PubNubCore.requestId with every request.
maximumConnections Type: Int? Default: n/a	Sets max requests per host (okhttp3.Dispatcher.setMaxRequestsPerHost).
certificatePinner Type: CertificatePinner Default: n/a	Sets certificate pinner for HTTPS connections.
sslSocketFactory Type: SSLSocketFactory Default: n/a	Sets the SSL socket factory for creating SSL sockets.
x509ExtendedTrustManager Type: X509ExtendedTrustManager Default: n/a	Sets the SSL trust manager for managing SSL certificates.
connectionSpec Type: ConnectionSpec Default: n/a	Sets the specifications for making connections (ConnectionSpec).
hostnameVerifier Type: HostnameVerifier Default: n/a	Manages the verification of the hostnames.
fileMessagePublishRetryLimit Type: Int Default: 5	Specifies how many times publishing file messages should automatically retry before failing.
dedupOnSubscribe Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Enables deduplication on subscribe.
maximumMessagesCacheSize Type: Int Default: n/a	Sets the maximum size of messages cache.
pnsdkSuffixes Type: Map<String,String> Default: n/a	Adds custom suffixes to the SDK version info.
managePresenceListManually Type: Boolean Default: n/a	Enables explicit presence control when set to true, affecting heartbeat and presence behavior.
authKey Type: String Default: Not set	This parameter is deprecated. Refer to Manage Access to understand the permission authorization flow and to Java Access Manager API for an overview of the API. If Access Manager v2 is utilized, the client will use this authKey in all restricted requests.

cryptoModule

cryptoModule encrypts and decrypts messages and files. From 6.3.6, you can configure the algorithms it uses. By default, encryption is disabled.

Each SDK includes two options: legacy 128‑bit encryption and recommended 256‑bit AES‑CBC. For background, see Message Encryption and File Encryption.

For configuration details, utilities, and examples, see Encryption.

Legacy encryption with 128-bit cipher key entropy

You don't have to change your encryption configuration if you want to keep using the legacy encryption. If you want to use the recommended 256-bit AES-CBC encryption, you must explicitly set that in PubNub config.

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.

Required User ID

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

1

Value override

You can provide updated values for certain configuration options for a single request to any supported API with PnConfigurationOverride.from().

1

The configuration options you can override include:

• subscribeKey
• publishKey
• secretKey
• retryConfiguration
• userId
• includeInstanceIdentifier
• includeRequestIdentifier
• cryptoModule
• connectTimeout
• nonSubscribeReadTimeout

Initialization

Add PubNub to your project using one of the procedures under Getting Started.

Description

Initialize the PubNub Client API before using any APIs. This sets account-level credentials such as publishKey and subscribeKey.

Method(s)

Initialize PubNub with:

1

* required

Parameter	Description
pnConfiguration * Type: PNConfiguration	Goto Configuration for more details.

Sample code

Initialize the PubNub client API

Required User ID

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

1

Returns

Returns the PubNub instance to call APIs such as publish(), subscribe(), history(), and hereNow().

Other examples

Initialize a non-secure client

Required User ID

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

1

Initialization for a Read-Only client

In the case where a client will only read messages and never publish to a channel, you can simply omit the publishKey when initializing the client:

Required User ID

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

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Initializing with SSL enabled

This examples demonstrates how to enable PubNub Transport Layer Encryption with SSL. Just initialize the client with setSecure set to true. The hard work is done, now the PubNub API takes care of the rest. Just subscribe and publish as usual and you are good to go.

Required User ID

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

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Initializing with Access Manager

Requires Access Manager add-on

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

Secure your secretKey

Anyone with the secretKey can grant and revoke permissions to your app. Never let your secretKey be discovered, and to only exchange it / deliver it securely. Only use the secretKey on secure server-side platforms.

When you init with secretKey, you get root permissions for the Access Manager. With this feature you don't have to grant access to your servers to access channel data. The servers get all access on all channels.

For applications that will administer Access Manager permissions, the API is initialized with the secretKey as in the following example:

Required User ID

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

1

Now that the pubnub object is instantiated the client will be able to access the Access Manager functions. The pubnub object will use the secretKey to sign all Access Manager messages to the PubNub Network.

How to set proxy

Required User ID

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

1

Event listeners

PubNub SDKs provide several sources for real-time updates:

• The PubNub client can receive updates from all subscriptions: all channels, channel groups, channel metadata, and users metadata.
• The Subscription object can receive updates only for the particular object for which it was created: channel, channel group, channel metadata, or user.
• The SubscriptionsSet object can receive updates for all objects for which a list of subscription objects was created.

To work with these sources, the SDK provides local representations of server entities, so you can subscribe and add handlers per entity. For details, see Publish & Subscribe.

UserId

These functions are used to set/get a user ID on the fly.

Method(s)

To set/get userId you can use the following method(s) in Java SDK:

1import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;
2

3pnConfiguration.setUserId(String userId);

* required

Parameter	Description
userId * Type: String Default: n/a	userId to be used as a device identifier. If you don't set the userId, you won't be able to connect to PubNub.

1import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;
2

3pnConfiguration.getUserId();

This method doesn't take any arguments.

Sample code

Set user ID

Required User ID

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

1

Get user ID

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Filter expression

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.

Stream filtering allows a subscriber to apply a filter to only receive messages that satisfy the conditions of the filter. The message filter is set by the subscribing client(s) but it is applied on the server side thus preventing unwanted messages (those that do not meet the conditions of the filter) from reaching the subscriber.

To set or get message filters, you can use the following method. To learn more about filtering, refer to the Publish Messages documentation.

Method(s)

1. setFilterExpression()

   1import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;
   2
   
   3pnConfiguration.setFilterExpression(String filterExpression);

   * required

   Parameter	Description
   filterExpression * Type: String	PSV2 feature to subscribe with a custom filter expression

2. getFilterExpression()

   1import com.pubnub.api.java.v2.PNConfiguration;
   2
   
   3pnConfiguration.getFilterExpression();

This method doesn't take any arguments.

Sample code

Set filter expression

Required User ID

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

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Get filter expression

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