Alpha Microsystems Alpha Micro User Manual
AlphaFAX
User’s Guide
DSM-00115-03
© 1998 Alpha Microsystems
REVISIONS INCORPORATED
REVISION DATE
00 May 1990
01 June 1992
02 November 1998
03 January 2004
AlphaFAX User’s Guide
To re-order this doc um ent, request part num ber DS O-00115-00.
This document applies to AlphaFAX version 2.1 and later.
The informat i o n co ntained in th i s m an u al i s b el i ev ed t o b e accurate and reliable. However, no
responsibility for the accuracy, completeness o r u s e of this inform ation is ass u m ed b y Alpha
Microsystems.
The following are registered trademarks of Alpha Microsystems, Irvine, CA 92614:
AMOS Alpha Micro Alpha Micro AlphaACCOUNTING
AlphaBASIC AlphaCALC AlphaFORTRAN 77 AlphaLAN
AlphaWRITE
The following are trademarks of Alpha Microsystems, Irvine, CA 92614:
AlphaBASIC PLUS AlphaVUE AMPC AMTEC
AlphaDDE AlphaConnect DART AlphaMAIL
AlphaNET ES P MULTI
All other copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
in
Sight/am AlphaRJE
ALPHA MICROSYS TEMS
17534 Von Karman
Irvine, CA 92614
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION TO ALPHAFAX
What is AlphaFAX? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
How Do I Use AlphaFAX? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
About this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
CHAPTER 2 - PREPARING THE DOCUMENT TO BE FAXED
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
What’s Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
Creating the Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
AlphaFAX Command Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Specifying the Fax Machine Telephone Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Using the AlphaWRITE Glossary for "Speed-dialing" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Previewing the Fax Before Sending It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
CHAPTER 3 - SENDING, RECEIVING AND PRINTING FAXES
Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Sending a Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Cancelling a Fax Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Receiving a Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
Printing a Received Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
CHAPTER 4 - ADDITIONAL ALPHAFAX FEATURES
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Sending to Special Telephone Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Defining Names for Telephone Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2
Defining a Distribution List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2
Including Images in the Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3
Including Text in the Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4
Overlaying Images onto the Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4
Selecting Fax Image Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Selecting a Specific Time to Send the Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Assigning a Priority to Your Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Defining a Fax ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6
Requesting Notification of Fax Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6
Sending Multiple Faxes From One Text File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7
Changing Company Name & Phone Number On A FAX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
Page ii Table of Contents
CHAPTER 5 - LOOKING AT FAX ACTIVITY
Looking at the Active Fax Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
Daily Fax Activity Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
Displaying a Fax Activity Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Using FAXSTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Deleting a Fax Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
CHAPTER 6 - CONVERTING RECEIVED FAXES TO BMP FILES
BMP Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Converting Fax Documents to BMP Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Using FAX2BM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
CHAPTER 7 - USING ALPHAFAX WITH ALPHAWRITE
AlphaWRITE Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
AlphaWRITE Header Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
General Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
Proportional Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
CHAPTER 8 - INTERFACING ALPHAFAX TO YOUR PROGRAMS
AlphaFAX and Your Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
APPENDIX A - SAMPLE FAX
APPENDIX B - DOCUMENT FORMATTING CODES
Document Formatting Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
General Command Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
Selecting Underscored Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2
Selecting Bold Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2
Selecting Italic Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2
Selecting Compressed Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
Selecting Proportional Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
Selecting a Proportional Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
Choosing Font Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-4
Moving to an Absolute Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-4
Moving to a Relative Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-4
Resetting Text Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-5
Combining Text Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-5
APPENDIX C - USING THE MASTER FAX LOG
The Master Fax Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1
INDEX
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO AlphaFAX
What is AlphaFAX?
AlphaFAX uses a fax modem to send a facsimile message (fax) from your computer
to a remote facsimile machine. It also allows you to receive faxes from a fax machine
or another AlphaFAX user. AlphaFAX gives full fax access to every user of your
computer and, in a networked environment, to every user of the network. You can
now send a fax message to a fax machine anywhere in the world without even
leaving your desk.
Some of AlphaFAX’s features include:
Activity log tells you what faxes have been sent and received, and when.
You can preview a fax before it is sent by printing it on a local printer.
You can send a single fax to multiple fax machines by specifying a
distribution list containing a list of fax phone numbers.
You can easily include text and bitmap images in your faxes.
Receipt of faxes is automatic, with no operator intervention required.
You can select a specific time to send a fax.
Fax machine phone numbers can be defined and specified in your fax
as a symbolic name such as "Capistrano Depot."
How Do I Use AlphaFAX?
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
The first step in sending a fax is to create a text file using one of the word processing
programs supported. Next, within the file type the phone number of the fax machine
you want to send the message to, and print it (selecting the "fax printer"). Instead of
appearing on a printer, the file is converted by AlphaFAX to a fax format and sent to
the specified fax machine. In effect, the other fax machine becomes a printer on your
computer.
Page 1-2 Chapter One
Installation The AlphaFAX product consists of a fax modem and software programs. For
information on installing these components, see the
AlphaFAX Installation Guide
That document also discusses hardware and software requirements.
About this Book This manual conforms to other Alpha Micro publications in its use of a standard set of
graphics conventions. We hope these graphics simplify our examples and make them
easier for you to use.
SYMBOL MEANING
TEXT Bold text in an example of user/computer communication
represents the characters you type. When the text is all capitals,
type exactly what’s shown. When it is lower case, it represents
a variable part of a command, such as a file name.
TEXT Text in this type face is used for: characters the computer
displays on your screen, program examples, and command
syntax. When showing command syntax, all capitals indicates a
constant part of the command line, such as the command name,
while lower case indicates indicates variable information, such
as a file name.
.
text
KEY
Bold italic text in an explanation of command use indicates a
parameter accepted by that command. For example: "The FAX
command accepts the
pic
argument, which selects the Product
Installation Code."
In our examples, the keycap symbol appears whenever you
need to press a certain key on your terminal keyboard. The
name of the key is inside the keycap, like this:
ENTER
.
This symbol means "halt!" It indicates an important note you
should read carefully before going further in the documentation.
Usually, text next to this symbol contains instructions for something you MUST or MUST NOT do, so read it carefully.
This symbol means "hint." It indicates a helpful bit of
information, or a "short cut" that could save you time or trouble.
This symbol means "remember." It indicates something you
should keep in mind while you are following a set of instructions.
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
CHAPTER 2
PREPARING THE DOCUMENT
TO BE FAXED
Introduction Use AlphaWRITE, AlphaVUE, or SuperVUE to create the message you want to send.
A fax message is no different from any other text file except that you include special
commands in the text that direct AlphaFAX where and how to send the fax. Briefly,
here is what you have to do to convert a text file into a fax message:
Use the @@TELNO command in the document to tell AlphaFAX the
phone number of the fax machine you want to send the fax to.
If you want to print a copy of the fax on your local printer before sending
it off, use the @@PREVIEW command in your file.
That’s all there is to it. Print the document to the fax spooler and the fax will be sent.
Your application program could just as easily add the AlphaFAX commands to fully
automate the process.
What’s Next? This chapter gives more details on using the @@TELNO and @@PREVIEW
commands. The next chapter tells you how to send, receive, and print faxes. Chapter
4 tells you about the other AlphaFAX commands you can use to make sending faxes
even more convenient. Using those commands, you will be able to:
Defer sending the fax until a specified time
Include text or bitmap images in the fax
Distribute a single fax to a number of different fax machines
Specify an ID code to be used in the AlphaFAX activity log to refer to the fax
Select high or low resolution in which to send the fax
Creating the Fax When you use a word processing program to create the fax document, you must
make sure that each page of your fax message will fit comfortably on the page when
it is sent, or it will not appear correctly on the remote fax machine.
Remember that most of the world uses a different paper size— called A4— rather
than the US standard letter size (8.5" x 11"). A4 is slightly narrower and longer than
letter size. Since you cannot be sure what size paper is loaded in the remote fax
machine, it is best to format your documents so that they will appear correctly on any
paper size. Keeping your fax within an 8" x 11" area fits virtually any size paper.
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
Page 2-2 Chapter Two
AlphaFAX includes support for bold, italic, and underscored text. These are accessed
from within your word processor just as with any other printer. AlphaFAX also
supports proportionally spaced text which can be accessed from AlphaWRITE 2.1
and later.
Here are some specific settings for your AlphaWRITE document header that will
ensure a fax prepared using AlphaWRITE will fit either 8.5" x 11" paper or A4 paper.
For AlphaWRITE 1.2A, Set:
Page Length: 66
Text Length: 57
Space Before Footnote: 0
and, remember to use the PAGINATE command to format the fax into pages of the
correct length.
For AlphaWRITE 2.0 and Later, Set:
Page Length: 11"
Top Margin: 0
Title Length: 0
Text Length: 9"
Space Before Footnote: 0
Footer Length: 0
AlphaFAX Command Format
For more information on using AlphaWRITE to create faxes, see Chapter 7, "Using
AlphaFAX with AlphaWRITE."
AlphaFAX commands appear in your text file preceded by the @@ symbols; for
example:
@@TELNO=1-714 957 8500
tells AlphaFAX what phone number to send the fax to. AlphaFAX commands must
appear at the beginning of a line.
All @@ commands cause a blank line to be inserted in the fax. It is therefore
recommended that you locate all non-location specific @@ commands at the bottom
of the print file rather than the top. Otherwise, each @@ command at the top creates
a blank line between the fax header and the first line of text or the first part of the
@@OVERLAY. @@PREVIEW and @@FINE must be located at the top, and will
result in blank lines at the top of a fax that you wish to send in fine mode and be
preview-able.
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
Page 2-3Preparing the Document to be Faxed
Specifying the Fax Machine Telephone Number
Using the AlphaWRITE Glossary for "Speed-dialing"
To send a fax, you must include the telephone number of the destination fax machine
in the message file. This is done via the @@TELNO command. The format of this
command is:
@@TELNO=dialstring
dialstring
(such as a 9), as this will be included automatically. If needed, you can include the
characters * and #, as well as a comma (,) to insert a brief pause, and W to wait for a
dialtone. You may also include spaces, hyphens, and parentheses symbols, all of
which are ignored.
Remember that you must include all codes needed to dial the number except outside
access codes. Don’t forget to include a 1 before the area code when dialing long
distance.
The dialstring may also be a character string which refers to an entry in the
FAXLST.DAT phone list. See Chapter 4 for more details.
is a series of digits to be dialed. Do not include any outside access codes
The AlphaWRITE glossary can be used as a "speed dialer" for the fax machine
phone number. Enter a fax phone number into the glossary under a two-digit
code, and then you may enter it into the fax document with a simple key
sequence.
Previewing the Fax Before Sending It
Once you have finished your fax, you may want to take a look at it before sending it.
If your fax contains the @@PREVIEW command, AlphaFAX sends a copy of it to a
local printer for previewing or documentation purposes. Including the @@PREVIEW
command in a fax document forces the @@TELNO command to be ignored. The
format of the command is:
@@PREVIEW=printer name,printer type,CPU number
The PREVIEW command without arguments will print to the default printer specificed
in FAX.INI. When using arguments as shown above, the printer name is the name of
the printer you wish to use. The printer type is the type of printer (LASJET, LSERJET,
LASWRT, POSTSCRIPT, LASERWRITER, PCL5, EPSON9, and EPSON24. The
CPU number is the CPU number of the node where the printer resides.
The PREVIEW command must be before the first printable line of the fax if you
specify a printer name. For consistency in alignment between a previewed and
non-previewed fax, if you are previewing a fax, you should print a blank line in the
document at the top where the @@PREVIEW command would be positioned for a
previewed fax. This way, you can replace the blank line with a @@PREVIEW
command when you want to preview the fax without altering the appearance of the
fax.
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
Page 2-4 Chapter Two
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
CHAPTER 3
SENDING, RECEIVING AND
PRINTING FAXES
Getting Help This chapter contains information on sending, receiving and printing faxes. If you
have any problems with any of these activities (for example, if a fax is not
successfully sent), please see "Troubleshooting AlphaFAX" in the
Installation Guide
Sending a Fax Once your message file is complete and contains the telephone number of the fax
machine you want to send the fax to, as discussed in the previous chapter, sending
the fax is a simple matter of printing the file to the fax printer. From within
AlphaWRITE, or other programs that provide their own interface to the system printer
spooler, you see the fax printer listed as one of your printer choices. (Extra prompting
information may be included in the printer list, such as "Send a fax.") Choose the fax
printer, and print your message.
for help in troubleshooting the problem.
AlphaFAX
Cancelling a Fax Transmission
From AMOS command level, you can send a fax by using the appropriate form of the
"print" command for your computer, and specifying the fax printer. For example:
PRNT FAX=MYFAX.LST
or:
PRINT FAX=MYFAX.LST
A copy of your outgoing fax is placed in FAXOUT:, where AlphaFAX transmits it.
After the fax is successfully sent, AlphaFAX deletes it from FAXOUT:. Your original
document file remains where you created it. (Of course, you can erase the source file
yourself, if you want to.)
Sometimes it becomes necessary to tell AlphaFAX to stop trying to send a fax.
For example, when reviewing the fax activity log (discussed in Chapter 5), you
might see that a particular fax has been repeatedly transmitted without
success (which might be because the telephone number for the fax machine is
incorrect). In such a case, you will want to tell AlphaFAX to stop trying to send
the fax.
To cancel the transmission of a fax, use the DELFAX command. The format of
the DELFAX command is:
RETURN
RETURN
DELFAX fax-id
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
Page 3-2 Chapter Three
fax-id
is the ID of the fax you want to remove from the transmission queue. For
example:
DELFAX Sally
RETURN
The fax ID is either the one you specified in the fax document via the @@ID
command, or the default one AlphaFAX assigned if no @@ID command was
in the fax document. (To see what a fax’s ID is, use the FAXQUE program.
Each entry in the fax queue will show its ID.)
Fax IDs are not case sensitive, so the ID "Sally" is treated the same as the ID
"sally" or "sAlLy".
If AlphaFAX is actively sending a fax, your delete request will not be processed
until after the fax transmission completes. DELFAX will not cancel a fax that is
actively being sent.
If multiple faxes exist with the same ID, DELFAX cancels the one listed in the
log with the highest number of transmission retries.
Receiving a Fax The receipt of incoming faxes is entirely automatic, and requires no operator
intervention. When an incoming call is detected, the software automatically answers
the phone, receives the fax (placing it on disk), notifies the operator a fax was
received, and optionally prints the document. (To request that AlphaFAX
automatically print all incoming faxes, you will want to modify the PRINT command in
the FAX.INI AlphaFAX initialization file—see the
AlphaFAX Installation Guide
for
details.)
Printing a Received Fax
All incoming faxes are placed in the ersatz device FAXIN:.
Once an incoming fax has been received, it can be printed at any time by using the
PRTFAX command. The PRTFAX command format is:
PRTFAX filespec
filespec
specifies the fax document to be printed.
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
CHAPTER 4
ADDITIONAL AlphaFAX
FEATURES
Introduction In the previous chapters, you saw how simple it is to send and receive faxes using
AlphaFAX. This chapter contains information on the additional AlphaFAX features
that make sending and receiving faxes even more convenient. We talk about:
How to define names for the fax machine telephone numbers you use
the most.
How to define a distribution list so you can send a single fax to multiple
fax machines.
How to include images and text in a fax.
Sending to Special Telephone Numbers
How to select a specific time to send the fax.
How to define an ID code that the fax activity logs use when referring to
your fax.
How to generate multiple faxes from a single text file.
AlphaFAX normally validates the telephone number you specify in a @@TELNO
command before dialing to make sure that it is a valid number. AlphaFAX checks for
the correct number of digits, makes sure that a 1 is sent prior to an area code, and
checks to make sure that no area code is sent if it is a local call. AlphaFAX attempts
to correct such errors when it can.
Because AlphaFAX validates the telephone number against the rules defined by the
North American Dialing Plan, international users may wish to disable this feature.
North American users may also wish to disable the feature when dialing internal PBX
numbers or including special access codes.
There are two ways to disable AlphaFAX’s validation feature. To completely turn off
the feature, modify the FAX.INI file to include the line:
VALIDATE=NO
AlphaFAX User’s Guide, Rev 03
Loading...