Access Manager v3 API for Android SDK

Access Manager v3 lets you enforce security controls for client access to resources on the PubNub platform. With Access Manager v3, your servers (that use a PubNub instance configured with a secret key) can grant clients tokens with embedded permissions that provide access to individual PubNub resources:

  • For a limited time period.
  • Through resource lists or regular expression (RegEx) patterns.
  • In one API request, even when permissions differ (for example, read to channel1 and write to channel2).

You can add the authorizedUUID parameter to restrict token usage to one client with a given UUID. Only this authorizedUUID can use the token to make API requests for the specified resources and permissions.

For more information about Access Manager v3, refer to Manage Permissions with Access Manager v3.

Grant token

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.

Requires Secret Key authentication

Granting permissions to resources should be done by administrators whose SDK instance has been initialized with a Secret Key (available on the Admin Portal on your app's keyset).

The grantToken() method generates a time-limited authorization token with an embedded access control list. The token defines time to live (ttl), authorizedUUID, and a set of permissions giving access to one or more resources:

  • channels
  • channelGroups
  • uuids (other users' object metadata, such as their names or avatars)

Only this authorizedUUID will be able to use the token with the defined permissions. The authorized client will send the token to PubNub with each request until the token's ttl expires. Any unauthorized request or a request made with an invalid token will return a 403 with a respective error message.

The grant request allows your server to securely grant clients access to resources on the PubNub platform. Each resource type supports a specific set of operations:

ResourcePermissions
channels
read, write, get, manage, update, join, delete
channelGroups
read, manage
uuids
get, update, delete

For permissions and API operations mapping, refer to Manage Permissions with Access Manager v3.

Method(s)

grantToken()
.ttl(Integer)
.meta(Object)
.authorizedUUID(String)
.channels(List<ChannelGrant>)
.channelGroups(List<ChannelGroupGrant>)
.uuids(List<UUIDGrant>)
* required
ParameterDescription
ttl *
Type: Number
Default:
n/a
Total number of minutes for which the token is valid.
  • The minimum allowed value is 1.
  • The maximum is 43,200 minutes (30 days).
meta
Type: Object
Default:
n/a
Extra metadata to be published with the request. Values must be scalar only; arrays or objects are not supported.
authorizedUUID
Type: String
Default:
n/a
Single uuid which is authorized to use the token to make API requests to PubNub.
channels
Type: List
Default:
n/a
All channel grants provided either as a list or a RegEx pattern.
channelGroups
Type: List
Default:
n/a
All channel group grants provided either as a list or a RegEx pattern.
uuids
Type: List
Default:
n/a
All uuid grants provided either as a list or a RegEx pattern.
Required key/value mappings

For a successful grant request, you must specify permissions for at least one uuid, channel, or channelGroup, either as a resource list or as a pattern (RegEx).

Sample code

pubnub.grantToken()
.ttl(15)
.authorizedUUID("my-authorized-uuid")
.channels(Arrays.asList(ChannelGrant.name("my-channel").read()))
.async(new PNCallback<PNGrantTokenResult>() {
@Override
public void onResponse(@Nullable PNGrantTokenResult result, @NotNull PNStatus status) {
if (status.isError()) {
// Handle error
}
else {
// Handle result
}
}
});

Returns

{"token":"p0thisAkFl043rhDdHRsCkNyZXisRGNoYW6hanNlY3JldAFDZ3Jwsample3KgQ3NwY6BDcGF0pERjaGFuoENnctokenVzcqBDc3BjoERtZXRhoENzaWdYIGOAeTyWGJI"}

Other examples

Grant an authorized client different levels of access to various resources in a single call

The code below grants my-authorized-uuid:

  • Read access to channel-a, channel-group-b, and get to uuid-c.
  • Read/write access to channel-b, channel-c, channel-d, and get/update to uuid-d.
pubnub.grantToken()
.ttl(15)
.authorizedUUID("my-authorized-uuid")
.channels(Arrays.asList(
ChannelGrant.name("channel-a").read(),
ChannelGrant.name("channel-b").read().write(),
ChannelGrant.name("channel-c").read().write(),
ChannelGrant.name("channel-d").read().write()))
.channelGroups(Collections.singletonList(
ChannelGroupGrant.id("channel-group-b").read()))
.uuids(Arrays.asList(
UUIDGrant.id("uuid-c").get(),
UUIDGrant.id("uuid-d").get().update()))
.async(new PNCallback<PNGrantTokenResult>() {
@Override
show all 24 lines

Grant an authorized client read access to multiple channels using RegEx

The code below grants my-authorized-uuid read access to all channels that match the channel-[A-Za-z0-9] RegEx pattern.

pubnub.grantToken()
.ttl(15)
.authorizedUUID("my-authorized-uuid")
.channels(Collections.singletonList(
ChannelGrant.pattern("^channel-[A-Za-z0-9]*$").read()))
.async(new PNCallback<PNGrantTokenResult>() {
@Override
public void onResponse(@Nullable PNGrantTokenResult result, @NotNull PNStatus status) {
if (status.isError()) {
// Handle error
}
else {
// Handle result
}
}
show all 16 lines

Grant an authorized client different levels of access to various resources and read access to channels using RegEx in a single call

The code below grants the my-authorized-uuid:

  • Read access to channel-a, channel-group-b, and get to uuid-c.
  • Read/write access to channel-b, channel-c, channel-d, and get/update to uuid-d.
  • Read access to all channels that match the channel-[A-Za-z0-9] RegEx pattern.
pubnub.grantToken()
.ttl(15)
.authorizedUUID("my-authorized-uuid")
.channels(Arrays.asList(
ChannelGrant.name("channel-a").read(),
ChannelGrant.name("channel-b").read().write(),
ChannelGrant.name("channel-c").read().write(),
ChannelGrant.name("channel-d").read().write(),
ChannelGrant.pattern("^channel-[A-Za-z0-9]*$").read()))
.channelGroups(Collections.singletonList(
ChannelGroupGrant.id("channel-group-b").read()))
.uuids(Arrays.asList(
UUIDGrant.id("uuid-c").get(),
UUIDGrant.id("uuid-d").get().update()))
.async(new PNCallback<PNGrantTokenResult>() {
show all 25 lines

Error responses

If you submit an invalid request, the server returns HTTP 400 with a message that identifies the missing or incorrect argument. Causes can include a RegEx issue, an invalid timestamp, or incorrect permissions. The server returns the error details under the PubNubException class.

Revoke token

Enable token revoke

This method requires that the Access Manager add-on is enabled for your key in the Admin Portal. Also, to revoke tokens, you must first enable this feature. To do that, navigate to your app's keyset and mark the Revoke v3 Token checkbox in the ACCESS MANAGER section.

The revokeToken() method allows you to disable an existing token and revoke all permissions embedded within. You can only revoke a valid token previously obtained using the grantToken() method.

Use this method for tokens with ttl less than or equal to 30 days. If you need to revoke a token with a longer ttl, contact support.

For more information, refer to Revoke permissions.

Method(s)

revokeToken()
.token(String token)
* required
ParameterDescription
token *
Type: String
Default:
n/a
Existing token with embedded permissions.

Sample code

pubnub.revokeToken()
.token("p0thisAkFl043rhDdHRsCkNyZXisRGNoYW6hanNlY3JldAFDZ3Jwsample3KgQ3NwY6BDcGF0pERjaGFuoENnctokenVzcqBDc3BjoERtZXRhoENzaWdYIGOAeTyWGJI")

Returns

When the token revocation request is successful, this method returns a PNRevokeTokenResult.

Error Responses

If you submit an invalid request, the server returns an error status code with a descriptive message informing which of the provided arguments is missing or incorrect. Depending on the root cause, this operation may return the following errors:

  • 400 Bad Request
  • 403 Forbidden
  • 503 Service Unavailable

Parse token

The parseToken() method decodes an existing token and returns the object containing permissions embedded in that token. The client can use this method for debugging to check the permissions to the resources or find out the token's ttl details.

Method(s)

parseToken(String token)
* required
ParameterDescription
token *
Type: String
Default:
n/a
Current token with embedded permissions.

Sample code

pubnub.parseToken("p0thisAkFl043rhDdHRsCkNyZXisRGNoYW6hanNlY3JldAFDZ3Jwsample3KgQ3NwY6BDcGF0pERjaGFuoENnctokenVzcqBDc3BjoERtZXRhoENzaWdYIGOAeTyWGJI")

Returns

{
"version":2,
"timestamp":1629394579,
"ttl":15,
"authorized_uuid": "user1",
"resources":{
"uuids":{
"user1":{
"read":false,
"write":false,
"manage":false,
"delete":false,
"get":true,
"update":true,
"join":false
show all 76 lines

Error Responses

If you receive an error while parsing the token, it may suggest that the token is damaged. In that case, request the server to issue a new one.

Set token

The setToken() method is used by the client devices to update the authentication token granted by the server.

Method(s)

setToken(String token)
* required
ParameterDescription
token *
Type: String
Default:
n/a
Current token with embedded permissions.

Sample code

pubnub.setToken("p0thisAkFl043rhDdHRsCkNyZXisRGNoYW6hanNlY3JldAFDZ3Jwsample3KgQ3NwY6BDcGF0pERjaGFuoENnctokenVzcqBDc3BjoERtZXRhoENzaWdYIGOAeTyWGJI")

Returns

This method doesn't return any response value.

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