How Can I fax directly from Access 2003 to MS Fax

[Joe Wilke]

I have a database with reports I would like to send via fax.
I have the reports set to the specific printer FAX but when I print of
course I get the Fax wizard.
Can anyone tell me how to avoid the fax wizard and have MS fax get the phone
number from the database to automate the whole process?

TIA

[John Winterbottom]

"Joe Wilke" <ce*****************@juno.com> wrote in message
news:41***********************@news.twtelecom.net. ..

I have a database with reports I would like to send via fax.
I have the reports set to the specific printer FAX but when I print of
course I get the Fax wizard.
Can anyone tell me how to avoid the fax wizard and have MS fax get the phone number from the database to automate the whole process?

Trying to automate faxing from Windows? Welcome to hell. We have looked at
this for a while and so far haven't found anything that is stable and
reliable. As far as your original question about programmatically
controlling MS-FAX I don't think this is possible. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway,
the only thing I have found that works off the shelf is Winfax Pro. The
Winfax sdk allows you to write code to manipulate fax objects via two
different methods; DDE, (older, and less robust IMO), and COM. If you decide
to go this route avoid Winfax version 10.02 - there are problems with this
version running on Windows XP. Either get the latest version, (10.03 I
think), or buy an older version such as 10.0 on e-bay. Since Symantec bought
Winfax I think they have basically reduced support to near non-existence -
the sdk is no longer in development for example. So don't expect much in the
future. There are forums at http://www.getfaxing.com but you have to
register.

One alternative, if you can get it to work, is to use a FAX Server. We are
currently looking at an open source fax server called Hylafax. Our plan is
to have the fax server running on a linux box and sell this as part of the
overall application. The problem is you need to edit the C++ source code to
hook into the fax destination info. We are trying to have it read from an
xml file which will be written by the calling app before each fax. If we
manage to get this working I'll post back here.

A better alternative might be to convert the reports to pdf and send by
email. We do this using a utility called pdf995 and it works very well. If
you need more info on how to make this work post back here.

[Christopher Lewis]

John Winterbottom wrote:

"Joe Wilke" <ce*****************@juno.com> wrote in message
news:41***********************@news.twtelecom.net. ..

I have a database with reports I would like to send via fax.
I have the reports set to the specific printer FAX but when I print of
course I get the Fax wizard.
Can anyone tell me how to avoid the fax wizard and have MS fax get the phone

number from the database to automate the whole process?

<SNIP>
One alternative, if you can get it to work, is to use a FAX Server. We are
currently looking at an open source fax server called Hylafax. Our plan is
to have the fax server running on a linux box and sell this as part of the
overall application. The problem is you need to edit the C++ source code
to hook into the fax destination info. We are trying to have it read from
an xml file which will be written by the calling app before each fax. If
we manage to get this working I'll post back here.

<SNIPPED AGAIN>

Since you brought this up, there is also an open source client for Windows
called Windows HylaFax Client. I've though about modifying this program
for exactly the same purpose. Unfortunately, I lack the ability and
resources to pull this off. It might be easier to modify the source for
the client to perform this task instead of the fax server source. If you
can, I'm sure it would be appreciated to donate those changes back to the
project.
--
Christopher Lewis