Q132: Windows 3.1 client for FlexFAX/HylaFAX


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Q.
Windows client for FlexFAX/HylaFAX?

A.
WinFlex is a WinSock based client for FlexFAX (and HylaFAX) from Peter Bentley . WinFlex 0.4 is only available in binary and from ftp.tecc.co.uk:/pub/winflex.

A.
Laine Stump from Morningstar made the following changes to WinFlex:

At someone else's request, I made the slight modification to the WinFlex source (and compiled it) so that:

1)
The popup window that asks for the phone number actually pops up by itself under Win95, rather than requiring you to click on the Winflex icon in the Start menu.
2)
Winflex requests the hylafax server to notify you when a fax is successfully sent, as well as when it fails.

You can get the updated winflex.exe from: ftp://ftp.morningstar.com/pub/tools/windows/. The full source, including an VC++ project file, is available in the same directory as ftp://ftp.morningstar.com/pub/tools/windows/winflex-src.zip.

PLEASE do not email me about this software. If you have any questions, send them to the HylaFax mailing list, where they are more likely to be read by somebody who has the time to read and answer them.

I provide this with no warranty, no offer of help if it doesn't work the way you want it to, and request that nobody deluge me with a list of requests for things to change in WinFlex - I don't have the time or the desire to do that.

The changes:

1)
In winflex.cpp, in the function ffDestDialogue::ffDestDialogue() change the line:
    	show()
to:
    	show(SW_MINIMIZE);
    	show(SW_RESTORE);
2)
In ffclient.cpp, in the function ffSocket::destSend, just after the line:
    	writeLine("pagelength", dp->pLen);
add the line:
    	writeLine("notify","when done");

Also, someone from Denmark requested a version that doesn't have the papersize hardwired to be US Letter, and that is in winflexa4.zip.
....
I did this on purpose because something in the combination of the Windows PS driver + GhostScript caused the aspect ratio of the page to be "nailed down" so that when gs was told to output as A4 (slightly longer and narrower than US Letter), the Windows-generated PS file would end up being (if I remember the number correctly) 4 pixels too wide for Hylafax to send as a fax (but hey, it *was* . After several people looked at this (ie at the ps files) and concluded that "it shouldn't happen, but I can't see what's wrong", I decided to prevent anyone from sending a fax that only contained a single error message line (and nothing else) by hardwiring the page size to be US Letter (even if you change the radio control, it still sends it letter size, since A4 is always doomed to failure anyway). [added by the FAQ maintainer: see also Q: Problems while sending a PS document... for this problem.]
....
I sure wish someone would port WinFlex to MFC so that anybody with VC++ could build it, rather than the whole world having to rely on the goodwill of the few of us who have zApp - I'm sure that would make for much more development of new features on the program. It really shouldn't be too much trouble doing so either, since the user interface is just 4 dialogs and an About box (and the main window which is used by the logger class), and all the rest could be moved over with basically no changes (the socket library doesn't need zApp) - the only trick to it is the handling of the WM_SPOOLERSTATUS message (that's how the Windows Print Manager notifies WinFlex that there is a file available to "print").
....
I think an MFC version of WinFlex would be a valuable addition to the suite of HylaFax support programs, and hope that somebody with the time to do it is lurking in the wings looking for a project to jump on.


Note: Some of the hyperlinks (e.g. for the man pages) can only work, if the HylaFAX software and the full documentation are installed on your system.

Matthias Apitz / guru@softcon.de ; (07:34:58 AM 01/27/97)