flexfax: Re: Printing to HylaFax as to a network printer (proposal)

[Glenn Burkhardt <glenn@aoi.ultranet.com>]

> Constantin Teodorescu:
> > For personal systems (as opposed to servers), the right answer to sending a fax is for applications to
> > print to a fax printer. The problem in Unix, of course, is how to get the phone number (or other information needed for the cover page). 
> > Forcing the users to put some string into the file to provide the phone number is a kludge, error prone, and a nuisance for the users (they have to remember to do it, they have to remember how to get it just right).
> 
> I agree with you, thought everyone could set a "fax template" for that
> job. Inserting fax number information into the document isn't  the
> smartest ideea.
> 

The WHFC interface is pretty well thought ought, and could be used as a model. Unfortunately, the code is not in the public domain :-(  

> > Yes, of course we all know how to use tkhylafax or sfax, but the fact of the matter is, to compete in the desktop arena, the many operation approach is a loser.  Instead of printing postscript to a file, invoking another program,
> > telling the program which file to send, the user ought to be able to select 'FAX' as the output device, and just do it.
> 
> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> 
> I'm using a RedHat Linux Pentium machine.
> I have defined a new printer (with printtool) , named it "fax" and set
> up the input filter a tiny "C" program called hyla-pop. For the moment,
> that program is doing only :
> 
>         f = fopen("/tmp/hyla.out","w");
>         while ((car=getchar())!=-1) {
>                 putc(car,f);
>         }
>         close(f);
> 
> Then I started Applixware and print a document to my new "fax" driver.
> As I supposed, I found the file /tmp/hyla.out that could be probably
> translated and rendered as a fax if we would know the number.
> I am not a guru in writting X windows "C" programs, but I think that the
> tiny filter "hyla-pop.c" could pop up a simple dialog window and ask for
> the fax-number you will want to send to it! Am I wrong ? I'm not
> familiar with printer filter and how they run (inputs, outputs) but I
> think that it would be possible. Knowing the fax-number and catching the
> printer output in that /tmp/hyla.out file, it would be probably very
> simple to render it to a fax image and send it.

Right.  I'd have to review the lpd spec again, too.  The pop up dialog should
request all salient information, e.g., any information that could go in the
cover sheet.  Think about using Tcl/Tk - it might make your X programming easier, and it'll make it easier for the rest of us to "port" the GUI.

There's some information available to the print filter about the user that sent the job, etc.  In the case where multiple users are executing on the same
machine (we have many, many xterms from various users running on a single
Sparc 5, which is also the Hylafax server), it might be possible to figure out
where to put up the pop up dialog.


> 
> I understood (correct me if I'm wrong) that for the moment , if you want
> to send a fax from a Unix box, you must print the document from your
> application as a Postscript file and then leave the application, call
> tkhylafax in order to specify the output file, the fax-number as so on.
>

Right.
 
> > But it's deficiencies like this that make folks turn to Win95 from Unix.
> 
> This one, should definitely be avoided :-)
> 
> -- 
> Constantin Teodorescu
> FLEX Consulting Braila, ROMANIA