how to fax a report using vb.net ?

[Sathiamoorthy]

I am working as a .Net Developer using VB.Net. I need some logic or code
for faxing a report (crystal report) .
Anybody can help me?

Regards,
R.Satiamoorthy

 

[Chris Dunaway]

I am working as a .Net Developer using VB.Net. I need some logic or code
for faxing a report (crystal report) .
Anybody can help me?

Regards,
R.Satiamoorthy

The answer is "it depends".

What kind of fax hardware do you have? Do you have a dedicated fax
board and plan to do many faxes? Or just a simple fax modem?

Some faxing software allow you to just drop a file into a certain
folder and it will just get picked up and faxed. Others may require
you to do all the coding.

I'd start by seeing what software is provided with the fax hardware
you intend to use and see if it contains an API that you can call.

Chris

 

[Michel Posseth [MCP]]

I have once used winfax pro ( symantec ) wich has verry good documentation
and example code ( ofcourse the computer needs a modem atached )
winfax has a COM interface wich you can implement in anny COM capable dev
environment ( VB6 , VB.Net , C# etc etc )

And it is verry afordable

 

[Guest]

I have once used winfax pro ( symantec ) wich has verry good
documentation and example code ( ofcourse the computer needs a modem
atached ) winfax has a COM interface wich you can implement in anny
COM capable dev environment ( VB6 , VB.Net , C# etc etc )

Windows also has a built in Fax Service - you can fax for free... and there
is a COM interface.

 

[parez]

I am working as a .Net Developer using VB.Net. I need some logic or code
for faxing a report (crystal report) .
Anybody can help me?

Regards,
R.Satiamoorthy

see if htis works for you.. no i have not used it.


http://www.efaxdeveloper.com/developer/twa/page/howWorks

 

[Michel Posseth [MCP]]

Free ??? wel okay against the line costs ..


In the time when i developed this app ( in my VB6 days ) i could not get
the MS fax program to work how i wanted it ( sending a cover page , and
sending a word document that was automaticly generated )

I really belived that MS did not provide a fax utility anymore starting of
XP but i was wrong i just dicovered with all my home computers it was just a
mather of putting the original installation disk in after selecting fax
services and >>>>> there it was a fax that can be steered as if it is a
printer

However i have not yet tested it with a app that generates the pages to
be send

 

[Guest]

I really belived that MS did not provide a fax utility anymore
starting of XP but i was wrong i just dicovered with all my home
computers it was just a mather of putting the original installation
disk in after selecting fax services and >>>>> there it was a fax
that can be steered as if it is a printer

However i have not yet tested it with a app that generates the
pages to be send

Just do a google search for Windows Fax Service:

http://www.aspfree.com/c/a/VB.NET/Programmatically-Controlling-Windows-Fax-
Services-Using-VB-net/


Are you doing high volume faxing? If you area, a fax blast service might be
a better choice. These services typically have a web service interface
making high volume faxing much more practical.

 

[jeff]

how many faxes are you sending?

how many users do you want to send faxes?

If you have a multi-user application and you want to 'fax enable' each
workstation ... you will need to have faxing software and fax line for each
workstation (costly).

If you only want to fax enable 1 user, you may run into problems...

There are internet services that offer - email to fax services.
Unfortunately, you will probably be sending confidential information to a
third party.

I tried the fax service from MS ... it did not offer me what we needed.

I tried using WinFax, but I found i flaky and you would require your client
/ user to purchase a copy of the software for each fax-enabled workstation.

In my case, i needed to send out patient care forms ... very sensitive data
.... and I had to allow ALL users to tag a care form for faxing, and I had to
record history ... when a fax was sent, if it was recieved, was it
successful, how many 'retries' did it take ... and so on.

What I did was buy FaxMan ... 800 bucks I believe ... I coded a few services
to run on a 'fax server' - one machine, one fax board, one phone line -
supports an entire hospital (about 40 workstations in the emergency
department with our software on them). The thing is, FaxMan looks after all
the plumbing for me... i simply build a cover sheet, attachment my document,
and send it to Faxman ... I periodically check the logs (complete, failed)
and stamp the record in the database accordingly. I works great - sends
about 500 faxes a day ... we have 4 lines on a fax board. And faxman does
everything. 800 bucks is a bit expensive, but considering my time, and its
out-of-the-box FUNCTIONALITY, it was well worth it. I had 3 services
(sender, checker, emailer - emails log file to identified persons) up and
running within a day. We had the fax server installed and in production
within 3 days. It has been running for over 6 months now ... sent close to
100,000 faxes! And, Faxman has a database of all the faxes it has sent ...
great for audit purposes! We can track all the faxes it has sent or tried
to send without ANY additional code.

If you decide to go this route, let me know, I will give you some code to
help you with the sending and checking processes...

Jeff.

 

[Michel Posseth [MCP]]

Just do a google search for Windows Fax Service:

http://www.aspfree.com/c/a/VB.NET/Programmatically-Controlling-Windows-Fax-
Services-Using-VB-net/

Thanks for the link that is interesting info .

Are you doing high volume faxing? If you area, a fax blast service might
be
a better choice. These services typically have a web service interface
making high volume faxing much more practical.

Well this proggy sends +- 10 faxes a day so no it`s not that high in volume
, i also don`t know if these services are interesting here in the
Netherlands ( and if they even exist for our country )

regards

Michel