pubnub

What is pubnub?

PubNub is a real-time communication platform that allows developers to build applications with real-time messaging, presence, and data synchronization capabilities. It is commonly used for chat applications, live updates, IoT device communication, and more.

What are pubnub's main functionalities?

Real-time Messaging

This feature allows you to send real-time messages to a specific channel. The code sample demonstrates how to publish a message to a channel using PubNub.

const PubNub = require('pubnub');
const pubnub = new PubNub({
  publishKey: 'your-publish-key',
  subscribeKey: 'your-subscribe-key'
});

pubnub.publish({
  channel: 'my_channel',
  message: { text: 'Hello, World!' }
}, (status, response) => {
  if (status.error) {
    console.log('Publish failed: ', status);
  } else {
    console.log('Message published with timetoken', response.timetoken);
  }
});

Real-time Subscription

This feature allows you to subscribe to a channel and receive real-time messages. The code sample demonstrates how to listen for new messages on a subscribed channel.

const PubNub = require('pubnub');
const pubnub = new PubNub({
  publishKey: 'your-publish-key',
  subscribeKey: 'your-subscribe-key'
});

pubnub.addListener({
  message: function(event) {
    console.log('New message received: ', event.message);
  }
});

pubnub.subscribe({
  channels: ['my_channel']
});

Presence Detection

This feature allows you to detect the presence of users in a channel. The code sample demonstrates how to listen for presence events such as join, leave, and timeout.

const PubNub = require('pubnub');
const pubnub = new PubNub({
  publishKey: 'your-publish-key',
  subscribeKey: 'your-subscribe-key'
});

pubnub.addListener({
  presence: function(event) {
    console.log('Presence event: ', event);
  }
});

pubnub.subscribe({
  channels: ['my_channel'],
  withPresence: true
});

History

This feature allows you to retrieve the message history of a channel. The code sample demonstrates how to fetch the last 10 messages from a channel's history.

const PubNub = require('pubnub');
const pubnub = new PubNub({
  publishKey: 'your-publish-key',
  subscribeKey: 'your-subscribe-key'
});

pubnub.history({
  channel: 'my_channel',
  count: 10
}, (status, response) => {
  if (status.error) {
    console.log('History retrieval failed: ', status);
  } else {
    console.log('Message history: ', response.messages);
  }
});

Other packages similar to pubnub

socket.io

Socket.IO is a library that enables real-time, bidirectional, and event-based communication between web clients and servers. It is commonly used for chat applications, live updates, and real-time analytics. Compared to PubNub, Socket.IO is more focused on web sockets and may require more server-side setup.

pusher

Pusher is a hosted service that makes it easy to add real-time data and functionality to web and mobile applications. It offers features like real-time messaging, presence, and webhooks. Pusher is similar to PubNub in terms of functionality but is a hosted service with a different pricing model.

ably

Ably is a real-time messaging service that provides pub/sub messaging, presence, and data synchronization. It is designed for high scalability and reliability. Ably offers similar features to PubNub but emphasizes performance and global data distribution.

README

PubNub JavaScript SDK (V4)

This is the official PubNub JavaScript SDK repository.

PubNub takes care of the infrastructure and APIs needed for the realtime communication layer of your application. Work on your app's logic and let PubNub handle sending and receiving data across the world in less than 100ms.

Get keys

You will need the publish and subscribe keys to authenticate your app. Get your keys from the Admin Portal.

Tutorial Video

Watch Getting Started with PubNub JS SDK on Dashcam

Configure PubNub

1. Integrate the JavaScript SDK into your project:

   • use npm:

     npm install pubnub
     

   • or download one of our builds from our CDN:
     • https://cdn.pubnub.com/sdk/javascript/pubnub.7.4.2.js
     • https://cdn.pubnub.com/sdk/javascript/pubnub.7.4.2.min.js

2. Configure your keys:

pubnub = new PubNub({
  publishKey : "myPublishKey",
  subscribeKey : "mySubscribeKey",
  uuid: "myUniqueUUID"
})

Add event listeners

pubnub.addListener({
  message: function (m) {
    // handle messages
  },
  presence: function (p) {
    // handle presence  
  },
  signal: function (s) {
    // handle signals
  },
  objects: (objectEvent) => {
    // handle objects
  },
  messageAction: function (ma) {
    // handle message actions
  },
  file: function (event) {
    // handle files  
  },
  status: function (s) {
  // handle status  
  },
});

Publish/subscribe

var publishPayload = {
    channel : "hello_world",
    message: {
        title: "greeting",
        description: "This is my first message!"
    }
}

pubnub.publish(publishPayload, function(status, response) {
    console.log(status, response);
})

pubnub.subscribe({
    channels: ["hello_world"]
});

Documentation

• Build your first realtime JS app with PubNub
• API reference for JavaScript (web)
• API reference for JavaScript (Node.js)

Support

If you need help or have a general question, contact [e-mail].