Features & Benefits of sending forms via fax You never have to type in a destination again, preventing errors and saving time. Information is obtained right from your application, no more repetitive keystrokes. Reform interfaces to any Windows-based fax systems (use your existing fax system). Enhance your faxed forms, they will be incredibly more legible.

You can set up your application for automatic faxing from filepro thru Reform and Winfax Pro.  If you are using
Fineline Message Manager on your Unix system, you can also setup for the fax response to be E-mailed back
to the user that requested the fax.

We have setup our customers for faxing of: Order Confirmations,  Invoice Copies, Statements, Quotations,
and Product Information Sheets.

Reform and Winfax Pro should be installed on a Windows 95 or 98 system.  I recommend Winfax Pro version
9 or 10, and if the Company is going to do alot of printing and faxing, you may consider a separate PC.  That
way a user on the same Computer will not interfere with a busy system by running other Windows applications
which may tend to slow down Windows.
 

Setting Up Reform and Winfax Pro

In order to use the fax device with Reform, you need to include all the necessary elements in the form you are designing.

Fax devices require these basic elements:

    · Recipient Company Name
    · Recipient Phone Number

Optionally you can include these elements:

    · Cover Page
    · Subject
    · Name
    · Notes
 

The followings describe step-by-step of how to setup your form to work with the fax system:

1  Prepare your filePro output by including the Fax Number, Company Name and the optional fields on your output.  Run your process and output the data to the filename.   From in Reform, Open the form intended to be used for faxing.

2  Go to Options > Fax > Fax Automation and the 'Device Automation' dialog box should show Winfax, along with your printers.  Click Winfax then click Properties.  Check the box next to Automatic DDE or API Link.   This is how you let Reform knows that the device is to treated as a fax device, and send your selected data fields for dialing.

3  Go to File > Page Setup ... and attached the fax device to your Form, by selecting Winfax in the Print To box.

4  From the Text Layer,  click on Special Fields and select for each: Fax Name Field, Fax Number Field, Subject Field or Notes Field and use the new object box to cover those fields in your data.

5  You can also include the Cover Page by selecting Options -> Fax Cover Page...
 

Using Fileline Message Manager to Email the Fax Response to the User
 

If you are using SCO OpenServer and networking to the Windows PC using FacetWin, and have Fineline Message Manager you can email the fax notifcation from Winfax on the Windows PC back to the user.
 

With FacetWin ( and perhaps with Tun or VisionFS ) you need to set up a shared “printer” named  “confirm”, and set up a script like this in the /usr/facetwin/scripts directory:

    #  confirm script for sending fax confirmation from Winfax to Fineline
    #
    #
    copy $1 /tmp/faxconf
    cat /tmp/faxconf | dos2unix >/tmp/faxconf
    strings /tmp/faxconf >/tmp/faxconfirm
    copy /tmp/faxconf /appl/fpmerge/faxconf.wp
    /site/bin/faxconf >/dev/null 2>&1
    #
 

Under Windows add a text only printer called 'confirm' and
 

Set up these scripts in /usr/bin and filepro prc

    # faxconf script
    TERM=ansi;export TERM
    /appl/fp/rreport iereport -f faxconf -s rec1 -u -y nullauto
    #
 

In a virtual filePro file like fpreport create the following output process (or download this: faxconf ):
 
 
 

to take date sent from winfax and create email and flag order
 

In Winfax - Setup > Send > After Send - send to printer “confirm”
 
 

see the attached script - download
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Typical automated fax scenario:

A purchase order agent has just entered in a purchase order, he routinely prints out his purchase order. At this point he is done and free to go on to the next job while Reform does the rest. There are many ways in which Reform is able to capture from an accounting system, this system is running our utility program that captures the printer port. Instead of the purchase order ending up at the dot matrix printer, it is captured and sent to Reform. Reform will process it against the pre-defined Reform template that adds it's logo's, font size changes, lines and the most important part, it will extract the fax information for the purchase order such as company name, contact name, fax number, subject, notes and cover page name. When that part is all done which happens in less then a second, the purchase order with its new reformatted look and the specific fax information is sent using the API link to the fax system. The fax system will have the fax job queued and in the out going box for sending with all the necessary information and without the user knowing or seeing anything. In most fax systems the user has the option to view the fax log to determine the status of his fax that does not change. Reform is not a fax system, it creates a seamless link between the form system and the fax system. To sum it up Reform will save the user valuable time with less keystroke thus preventing user errors.

Setting up the above scenario is a five easy step process:
1.) Make the interface to your application.
2.) Use our Reform editor to create a pre-define format.
3.) Drop the special fax fields from the Text Layer on the text to capture.
4.) Select the fax driver in our page setup.
5.) Select the fax driver in our script setup and enabled automatic.