FaxChange API - Faxchange 6.x

FaxChange API

In the directory /faxchange/fxapi of the installation CD can be found FaxChange API. It allows you to:

transmit faxes from the command line
transmit faxes directly from your application.
add a DLL library file into FaxChange which can be called for example at every writting to the application event log or at every fax receipt / transmission.

Fax transmission from the command line

OutMail application is available in the directory outmail/ (source code is located here and in outmail/bin/ is compiled programme).

OutMail allows you to transmit faxes from the command line (or other arbitrary e-mail). It is capable of sending only faxes containing text or faxes with enclosures.

The programme starts itself using one parameter - name of the file INI which contains all necessary information relating to the fax (name of profile, addressee, subject, text and enclosures). An example of an INI file can be found in the directory outmail/bin/.

Tip: If faxes really require to be sent then it is necessary to disable preview function for the user profile.

Fax transmission directly from your application

For fax transmission from application exists more alternatives. Some of them are: start Outmail (described in the previous point), use directly services of MAPI (described in MAPI SDK documentation (SDK, MS Exchange SDK, BackOffice SDK)) or use the functions of BrMsg.

The library BrMsg is located in the directory brmsg/ and enables easy transmission of e-mail messages or faxes. Description of use can be found in the file brmsg.h

Expansion DLL library

Addition of two types of expansion library is possible within Faxchange:

Library for processing of event log recording
Libraries that are called on at the moment of fax archiving - when fax is received, sent or not sent

Libraries of both types are activated after they are saved to the FaxChange/Bin/fxSrvr-PlugIns/ directory. Each library contains function using which faxserver is informed which exact activity library does.

Exact descriptions and commented source code is saved in the corresponding directories under server_custom_dll/.../.

Tip: How to generate a fax address

If you are going to send a fax from within your application the following suggestions may help you in creating a correct fax address.

If you are sending via MAPI you should be aware that the address type must be set to "FAX". Include the address and fax number . If it is necessary to attach further information it may be carried out with the use of an address template which produces the following:

<fax number>#3A17 <title>#3A16 <company>#3A18 <department>#39FF <name>

In place of # is located the character 0x05.

The next alternative for generating fax addresses is the row "TO" within Exchange client / Outlook . The following format is possible:

<name>[fax:<number>]

Tip: How to transmit faxes directly from MS DOS applications

Problem is sending faxes from MS DOS applications (applications under FoxPro) or from application to which cannot be MAPI library linked.

The simplest solution of this situation is as follows:

The faxing application will not send faxes to MS Exchange but it writes them as files to special directory.

Concurrently with the main application the fax application is run which at regular intervals searches through this special directory and found faxes are sent (e.g. with the help of BrMsg library)

In directory /faxchange/fxapi/mailrobot on Installation CD you can find program "mailrobot", that does this function - looks for files in directory and sends it via MS Exchange / MAPI.