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simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior
547 Posts |
 Posted - 2004-03-04 : 13:00:18
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| This is a bit off topic from SQL Server, but there are many smart, experienced people here with dev. backgrounds, so maybe someones got an idea.I am looking for a piece of fax software that will send faxes over a faxmodem not using the internet. The fax software should run on the machine with the faxmodem and be able to accept fax requests from users on the network. There is a table in SQL Server that has a TEXT column with documents stored in .rtf format, an account number, and a phone number. I would like the fax app to go through the table and send their document to each receiver. It must log successes and failures. I would rather not have to install a fax client on each machine, but use the fax like a network printer.I am willing to use an SDK such as FaxMan, but would rather use an off-the-shelf like Winfax. Has anyone any experience with WinFax.Sarah Berger MCSD |
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-04 : 13:12:17
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| I think we use a wrapped up FaxMan solution here, but I don't think I'd reccomend it.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda> |
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simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior
547 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-04 : 18:20:00
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| Why?Sarah Berger MCSD |
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-04 : 18:38:15
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| This may be due to how we impliemented it, so be sure to check my facts on this. It uses FoxPro tables to keep track of the faxes that it's working on. When the FoxPro tables / indexes get corrupted, we wind up having a few faxes stuck in limbo (we are not sure if they were sent or not) as well as faxing just stops until we fix the FoxPro tables. We have a "FaxQueue" in SQL server that feeds FaxMan with data. That part works great, it's just the stupid FoxPro stuff that kills it.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda> |
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simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior
547 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-04 : 23:17:45
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| I have read some of the FaxMan documentation. FaxMan says they keep "logs" called Pending, Success, and Failure to keep track of each fax. Are these the FoxPro tables you are describing? If not, the problem you are describing is part of your own system. (Also, if a developer wants to do their own logging, they can use the events generated by FaxMan such as e.g. FaxStart, FaxComplete etc. to create their own logs, so even if their tables get corrupted, you really could create your own and not rely on theirs.)What is this "FaxQueue" you mentioned, and how does it work?Sarah Berger MCSD |
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-05 : 13:43:00
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| I do believe those logs they speak of are stored in FoxPro tables. We do our own logging in SQL server as well. If something happens to those FP tables, faxing stops.Faxqueue: A SQL table that stores what number to fax to and a location of a TIFF to fax. Our applications write a record to the faxqueue and an application polls that queue and sends out faxes.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda> |
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simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior
547 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-09 : 10:54:19
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quote:
Faxqueue: A SQL table that stores what number to fax to and a location of a TIFF to fax. Our applications write a record to the faxqueue and an application polls that queue and sends out faxes.
Yes, I was thinking of something along those lines. This involves writing the application that creates the "queue", and a listener/polling application that reads the queue and feeds the printer/fax. I was thinking of using Winsock for this (workstations function as servers, sending information to the listener application on the fax server as to what documents to print, and the listener does the actual work)About the FoxPro tables: Do they corrupt often? Are you running a recent version of FaxMan? (Am wondering if they are still using FoxPro. What is the future of FoxPro?).Thanks for the info about FaxMan, Michael, and if anyone has any info on an out-of-the-box solution that requires less proprietary code, I'd appreciate it.Sarah Berger MCSD |
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X002548
Not Just a Number
15586 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-09 : 11:16:42
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| Is the problem receiving or transmitting?Do the clients have access to the database?Sounds like you're storing the docs now...can't you just have them pull their docs instead of you pushing them?Brett8-) |
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-09 : 12:45:27
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| Sarah,Look into the windows faxing API. There's a faxing service that comes with Win2000.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda> |
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simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior
547 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-09 : 16:05:01
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Thanks, Michael. The fax libraries are poorly documented in my MSDN (which is very outdated), but Google (Usenet) has some information. quote:
Is the problem receiving or transmitting?Do the clients have access to the database?Sounds like you're storing the docs now...can't you just have them pull their docs instead of you pushing them?
Transmitting only, no receiving. Of course clients have access to the db. People, namely transcriptionists, work on the client machines (workstations) typing up reports which are then either sent right away to a referral source, or batched and sent at night. The docs are stored in a TEXT field in SQL Server in .rtf format. Dunno exactly what you mean by the pulling/pushing business.Sarah Berger MCSD |
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monkeybite
Posting Yak Master
152 Posts |
Posted - 2004-03-09 : 16:18:11
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| We use GFI Faxmaker for Exchange with success. Nice, extensive API.http://www.gfi.com/~ monkey |
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Fax Software