Sending a fax
XFAX - User’s Guide 4.3a
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4. Sending a fax
Many of the fax messages that are sent are of a very simple nature. They may
involve confirmation of an agreed time, an order, cancellation or similar, which
only takes up a couple of lines. In such cases it should be possible, by means of a
simple manipulation, to send just such a fax from the command line or from your
favourite word processor, with the minimum of work on the part of the user.
The system can convert text files with the HP Laserjet PCL commands - to be
more precise the commands that are generated by an HP Laserjet or HP Laserjet
Plus printer. This means that HP Laserjet printouts from within another program
such as a word processor can be sent direct to XFAX with precisely the same
results as if they had been printed out on the laser printer. The only difference is
that the resolution on a fax is 200 dpi (dots per inch) as opposed to a laser
printer’s 300 dpi or more. Lists of the commands that are supported are given in
the appendix. For a more detailed description of the PCL standard you are
referred to printer manuals or similar.
The typefaces that accompany XFAX are the same as the typefaces found in the
Z1A typeface cassette from Microsoft.
The command faxsend converts files to the fax format and asks the fax server to
place the final fax in a queue awaiting transmission. When the time for transmit-
ting is reached (normally immediately) an attempt is made to send the fax. If the
transmission is successful the fax is removed from the transmission queue and
the statistic is saved in the statistics file. On the other hand if the attempt is not
successful, the fax is given a new time for a new attempt. The new time becomes
the current time plus the number of minutes given by the keyword
RETRY_TIME in the configuration file. When the maximum number of
attempts, given by the keyword MAX_TRIES, has been reached the fax is
moved from the transmission queue to the queue for unsuccessful faxes. A copy
of the fax is saved in the directory “Fax” (see also FAIL_DIR) under the home
directory for the user who first placed the fax in the queue. This user can also be
informed of the failure via electronic mail if so desired. There is also the possi-
bility of getting the system to execute a special command after the concluded
transmission or failed transmission, see also the keyword
EXECUTE_AFTER_SEND.
4.1 faxsend
The easiest way to send a fax using faxsend is quite simply to give a telephone
number and a file name as an argument. For example:
# faxlogon
# faxsend 7586535 pricelist
which converts the text in the file “pricelist” to fax format and sends the finished
fax to fax number 7586535.
Data can also be sent to faxsend via a so-called pipe as follows:
