PHP V4 Storage & Playback API Reference for Realtime Apps

The PubNub Storage and Playback Service provides realtime access to history for 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 data center locations. Stored messages can be encrypted with AES-256 message encryption, ensuring that they are not readable while stored on PubNub's network.

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, 3, 5, 7, 15, or 30 days, and Forever.

History

Requires Storage & Playback add-on Requires that the Storage & Playback add-on is enabled for your key. See this page on enabling add-on features on your keys:
https://support.pubnub.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051974791-How-do-I-enable-add-on-features-for-my-keys-

Description

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 V4 SDK:

$pubnub->history()->channel(String)->reverse(bool)->includeTimetoken(bool)->start(integer)->end(integer)->count(integer)->sync();

Parameter	Type	Required	Defaults	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.

Using the `reverse` parameter:

Messages are always returned sorted in ascending time direction from Storage/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
            )
            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 2222
        )
        [2] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 55
                [b] => 66
            )
            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 2222
        )
    )

    [startTimetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => 13406746729185766
    [endTimetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => 13406746780720711
)

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
                [b] => 44
            )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 2222
        )
        [2] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 55
                [b] => 66
            )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 2222
        )

    )

    [startTimetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => 13406746729185766
    [endTimetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => 13406746780720711
)

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
            )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 2222
        )
        [2] => PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult Object(
            [entry:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => Array(
                [a] => 55
                [b] => 66
            )

            [crypto:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] =>
            [timetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryItemResult:private] => 2222
        )

    )

    [startTimetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => 13406746729185766
    [endTimetoken:PubNub\Models\Consumer\History\PNHistoryResult:private] => 13406746780720711
)

Include timetoken in history response:

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

Delete Messages from History

Description

Removes the messages from the history of a specific channel.

Note

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 V4 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. e.g. 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

Description

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.

Note

For keys with unlimited message retention enabled, this method considers only messages published in the last 7 days.

Method(s)

You can use the following method(s) in the PHP V4 SDK:

$pubnub->messageCounts()->channels(array)->channelsTimetoken(array)

Parameter	Type	Required	Defaults	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());

History

Description

Start & End parameter usage clarity:

Method(s)

Using the reverse parameter:

Basic Usage

Response

Other Examples

Delete Messages from History

Description

Note

Method(s)

Basic Usage

Other Examples

Message Counts

Description

Note

Method(s)

Basic Usage

Returns

Other Examples

Using the `reverse` parameter: