Faxing in PureBasic

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 2:56 am

So.. I'm faced with the possiblity of doing some faxing in an application I'm writing in PB.. Any pointers or conversation would be great!

AngelSoul · Post by **AngelSoul** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 8:11 am

I never actually used faxing but I think you'd have to manually open the COM port of the modem, send initialization strings to use the fax features and send/receive your data through that port. It's not related to dial-up networking nor the internet, it's a peer-to-peer telephone communication which you must have the modem dial the number or have it answer using init string "ATA".

It's been a long time i haven't played with modems that way, the good old times of BBS's

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 8:13 pm

I'm hoping to avoid having to do all that.. I haven't yet but plan to look around for some libraries that handle the lower-level modem stuff for me. Thanks for the reply!

aszid · Post by **aszid** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 8:51 pm

if this is a windows program, then couldn't you just use the "fax" printing device somehow?

just a thought, i haven't actually done faxing before, but i thought that might help a bit.

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 1:57 am

I don't know, but I'll look into it!

If anyone else has any suggestions please feel free to post them!

Thanks!

Thade · Post by **Thade** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 5:01 pm

I would suggest that you look into the Printer thing.
As you know when you want to print a document from Word or Corel Draw or whatever you have the decision to select the device (Printers or if Fax is installed Fax and even Colorfax as I see opening the selector)
Once you have decided Printing to Fax then the dialing and all that is done automatic - without the main Program being involved - just an idea...

Post by **Berikco** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 8:48 pm

I used faxnow2000 once to do this (in GFA32, not PureBasic), it has a nice API for external app's using a dll.
http://www.faxnow.com

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 10:50 pm

Good news - I hope their site comes back up!

Num3 · Post by **Num3** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 11:18 pm

Ehehehehe

Post by **Berikco** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 8:35 pm

Karbon wrote:Good news - I hope their site comes back up!

Try the direct URL to the company Redrock
http://www.redrock.co.uk

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 8:51 pm

Looks like good software but I don't think I could afford to buy it for all the people that buy my application

I'll look around somemore and try to find a cheaper solution once it comes time to implement faxing..

Thanks to all!

waffle · Post by **waffle** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 12:04 pm

in windows;
Notepad has fax capability, or at least its on my laptop which does not have a printer. Just select print, and in the print que, it has a fax icon.
but, i'm not sure how that would work if trying to send a fax to a regular fax machine?

i think you would need a fax modem to do that. Regular modems won't recognize those protocals. I use to have one of those and gave up on it when i upgraded. Most PC can simulate a fax by creating an image of the document and then emailing the image. Thats how notepad would do it. It would fax the doc to a file. waist of bandwidth to email unless you just wanted your doc to be in a format that could not be edited. With good laser or inkjet printer on the recieve side, the printout would look like a fax if done in black and white and spill some extra ink on it.

or, if you need to get hard core:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/defau ... t_18s3.asp

Tranquil · Post by **Tranquil** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:11 pm

Why not using a "Printer-Device" as a fax-modem. WinFax2000 or Topcall can do this. It creates a dummy Printer-Device for sending Faxes via Modem, ISDN or network.

Cheers
Mike

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:15 pm

My only issue with these things is that I need something that I can distribute with my application.. I doubt the WinFax or Topcall license allows distributon with commercial apps.. I just threw this out there a little while ago to test the waters - I'm pretty far from adding this to the application but it's always good to get more suggestions!

Thanks Mike!

D'Oldefoxx · Post by **D'Oldefoxx** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 10:39 pm

A program like MightyFax or MightyFaxNT also act as standalone fax software and insert a printer driver. But it comes up and asks for a phone number and recipient and whether to send now or schedule for later. Others would likely do the same. To control it from within your program, you would have to use a .dll or add-on library, or write your own.

Key again, though, is that you and your clients would have to have fax-enabled modems attached to phonelines. Or you would have to look for a standalone fax that can be networked. An alternative is a fax subscription service on the internet, where you send your fax as a file and it dials it out from there. Some fax services claim to be national in scope, meaning that the call they then make would likely be a local one.

The fact is though, that fax is rapidly falling into obsolecence. It has much less flexability than file attachments and email, and is relatively slow (9600 bps or less). It is usually black and whie, and has a low pixel count, so the results are likely poor. You cannot control the quality of the fax sent, and if it comes out grainy, too light, or too dark, so that it cannot be read, there is often little recourse to getting it resent, unless the person sending included a cover sheet with name and phone number on it. It is often received in the public area, meaning it can be mishandled, tossed out, picked up by the wrong partty, or neglected.

Email correspondance goes a long way towards addressing those concerns. I always urge anyone that wants a fax to consider an email file instead. Many agree, just not use to thinking in those terms. Some ask me, "but how do I get it into paper form?" I reply, "Just click on it to open it, then select Print under the File icon and which printer you want it to go to." They do it, it works, and bingo! They have their paper copy, which is so important to their paperwork system.