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FaxBox Developer

FaxBox Developer is the ideal solution for those wishing to automate the sending of faxes or SMS from their business application. Several methods are available for FaxBox integration, some of which do not require any development.

Method 1: Zero Development
Integration via the FaxBox virtual printer (Fax only)

FaxBox Corporate has a Windows virtual printer allowing the sending of faxes based on any printable document to be automated. This method is aimed both at applications with a Windows "user interface" and at users who wish to automate application servers.

Principles:

You simply need to specify the address of the recipient of the fax within the printable document itself in one of the following formats:

Company.name.faxnumber@faxbox.com where the "company", "name" and "faxnumber" fields will be used and appear on the fax cover sheet. The simplified version of this format is faxnumber@faxbox.com
KeyWord=faxnumber

Once the fax recipient has been recognised, the following actions will be performed by the virtual printer:

Successful conversion of the printable document into a document for faxing
Generation of a companion file containing all the sending parameters
An email is sent to FaxBox Corporate (rtefax@faxbox.com) using one of the following possibilities
- Integrated SMTP or SMTP email client
- Microsoft Outlook connected to an Exchange server
- Lotus client connected to a Notes Domino server

N.B. the virtual printer can also be used in "programmed mode". Either via an .ini file (Fotowin compatible) or via the registry (recommended solution).

The virtual printer interface is versatile and has three different ways of sending:

Point-to-point sending to one or more recipients
Personalised fax mailing according to methods similar to mass mailing
Without Man-Machine-Interface (purpose of this description)

Method 2: SMTP (FAX & SMS)

This is the standard method to call the FaxBox Corporate platforms. This method is the same as sending an email to the FaxBox Corporate platforms.

The recipient's fax number can be incorporated either into the "address zone" of the message, the "subject zone", the "message zone" or in an attachment containing the commands and the list of recipients.

Several formats are possible for the email to be sent by the application. These formats are of the company.name.faxnumber@faxbox.com type and are described in detail in the FaxBox Developer Manual. The format for SMS will be name.smsnumber@rtesms.com

Method 3: Web Services and XML (FAX & SMS)

The Web Service interface operates on the principle of an exchange of XML files including the commands and data to be sent. The commands are stipulated in the form of TAGS whereas the data is coded in Base64.

The WEB Service interface is a standard interface allowing methods to be called remotely using only the http protocol for transport. A WEB Service is hosted on a WEB server and presents methods, their parameters and their descriptions to customers who connect to it.

The http://ws.rte-com.com/ page provides additional information.

The Web Services interface can be used for sending faxes or SMS point-to-point.

Method 4: Local interfaces (Fax only)

In certain cases it may be necessary to install a local module for collection and processing of the flows before calling the FaxBox Corporate platforms. The locally-installed module includes the following elements:

Interface with the information system (File, Spool, Windows Printer)
Local conversion into a document for faxing
Calling of the FaxBox Corporate platforms
Local generation of reports
Automatic printing of delivery confirmation reports (optional)

Description of the interfaces with the information system.

1) Automation via Windows printing flow (SPOOL): In addition to the virtual printer described in the "Zero Development" method, RTE Network offers a second Windows virtual printer, the "File Interface Printer", which has the same main functions (printing, semantic analysis, graphic conversion) and which uses the capacity of the local relay to improve the page layout. With the File Interface Printer it is therefore possible to call backgrounds stored on the local relay server so that the final appearance of the fax looks like the usual paper version. This virtual printer does not have an Operator Interface and must be controlled via commands in the printable document or the registry. The commands to be used to automate conversions are described in detail in the FaxBox Corporate Developer manual.

2) Automation via NON Windows printing flow (SPOOL): For NON Windows applications (AS400, UNIX, LINUX, Mainframe systems) it is sometimes necessary to adopt a Spool interface as a means of communication between the information system and the fax solution. The spool files (raw text, PCL, PS, ESC/P) must therefore contain the information required to interpret commands. The spool flow is processed by the local module. This module analyses the flows, interprets the commands, converts the data flows into a fax and calls the FaxBox Corporate platforms.

3) Automation via File Interface: The file interface represents a local relay between the applications and FaxBox Corporate. The File interface allows you to send faxes comprising several documents possibly merged with backgrounds or together with documents to be sent systematically (e.g. General Sales Terms and Conditions) A results file is generated at the end of the process.

The local installations also allow:

Integration with EDM systems
Integration with OLE DB to archive the traffic locally
Local archiving

For further information regarding FaxBox Developer or the sales conditions relating to the various interfaces, click here to contact your sales representative.