Faxes and E-Mails from FoxPro v2.6 ?

[stevenharrisesquire]

Hi there,

I have been asked to consider the practicalities of rewriting an old mainframe process which sent out faxes and e-mails to customers in FoxPro v2.6

Does anybody know if this can be done in 2.6 and if so, how to do it (i.e. code snippets etc. etc.) ?

Moving up to a newer release is not an option due to budgetary constraints.

I know I had a lot of useful ideas last time I asked a question on this Tek Group!

Thanks and regards,

Steve Harris

 

[rgbean]

Just curious, if it takes twice as long to develop half the capablities with more incompatibilities, where are the budget savings? You might ask when the last time anyone used WordPerfect for DOS or Lotus 1-2-3 1a - they are "contemporaries" to FP 2.6a - it's time to upgrade your database development environment and skills to VFP 7.0.

Note: While E-Mails could be "handled" by a product like BLAT, I don't recall seeing anyone implementing Faxes in FP.

Rick

 

[stevenharrisesquire]

There is no cost i.e. no capital expenditure, in developing a system with the application tools the company is familiar with and that is compatible with other applications within the company.

There is a cost in re-training, buying new licences and purchasing more support.

QED - Development in 2.6 is the only option.

Furthermore it is not my decision, and not my budget, and, only possibilities are being researched at this present time.

 

[fluteplr]

Set Rant On

Of course there is a cost, it developing systems in outdated projects. You just don't have to pay it up front. The costs are longer development times, incompatibility problems, much less usefull software, out of date interfaces etc. Not to mention, keeping your developers tied to an outdated system, instead of upgrading their skills.

Set Rant off.

 

[dgrewe]

E-Mail - Eudora is Free and accepts a text control file telling it want to do so any program can produce ASCII files (which FPW2.6 does) can do it.

Fax - ZetaFax will also accept a ASCII text file as a control file and send faxes. The cost in faxing will be the number you need to go out. That will determing the platform and hardware you will need to run Zetafax.

If you want the code to do the email with eudora, let me know and I'll post it someplace
David W. Grewe
Dave@internationalbid.com

 

[infinitelo]

you can also use standard windows componets (and send your foxpro outputs to text files)
also if your not useing a winmodem, you can use "fopen" to control the modem and send faxes (tab books foxpro2.5 by john hawkins) the processing, programs and so forth are very tedious.

 

[jerrytvspec]

I am using Fox pro with Win95. So what I do is send the print to save a text file in My Desk Top. Go to the windows desk top the icon is there and open it up with any fax or e-mail software you have in windows and send it. That way you can also make last minute notes on it before it is sent.

 

[dgrewe]

You will have to write a program to create the text control file because each program wants something different.
You can not use a report form to do this.
You will need to use the low level file operation commands
Fcreate(), fputs() and fclose().
David W. Grewe
Dave@internationalbid.com

 

[stevenharrisesquire]

Thanks for your help,

There's some great ideas here that I can put to some good use!

Cheers,

Steve Harris

 

[Scott15239]

Not to dissuade you from doing this in Foxpro, but is your mainframe system IBM MVS? If so, you can take advantage of the SMTP/TCP IP abilities to send emails directly out of the mainframe. I develop applications in Foxpro as a side job, but my principal work focus is as a COBOL P/A in the IBM mainframe world, and the process to do it there is VERY simple and straightforward, provided you have correct infrastructure in place.

Scott Lazar
lazar.se@mellon.com

 

[mishu]

Take a Look at

http://www.jassing.com/fpw.htm

(FPW Mailer 5.5 SMTP Mailer for FPW - Software by jAssing Consulting )

 

[clogic]

Personally I think the last reliable, inventive programming Microsoft did was Word 2.0 ... everything since has either been bought from companies with real programmers (ie Fox) or butchered by their inbred hackers.

VFP is junk since 3.0
Bloatware, slow, too dependant on OS and really, not that much quicker to develop in than FP 2.6 .. if you are experienced.

I still use 2.6 because it runs on DOS, Mac and Unix and is at least 5x smaller and 20x faster than Visual.

As for faxing and e-mail ... piece of cake.
I print my invoices from 2.6 via report forms to my winfax or efax print drivers ... away they go graphics and all.
Writing internet shortcuts for browsers or email clients and running them is short and easy.

Let me know if you want details.

Steven S
Professional Foxpro developer for DOS/Windows/Unix platforms since 1989.
clogic@yahoo.com