I don't know Tobit, but that feature looks interesting for batch sending.
Can you provide more details on how Tobit does this?
Where do you put the @@0123456789@@ string so Tobit can recognize it as the recipient's number?
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The requested feature "submit number with document" would be highly appreciated by me (us), too!
I can try to "help" you in describing the direct way in our implementation so far:
We have a working hylafax-Server with a yaffas/Bitbone-Upgrade (www.bitbone.de).
This server shares a faxprinter to every (Windows-) client.
The document (a post-script document) is send to the faxprinter.
The faxprinter from Bitbone searches for a special pattern (eg. "@@number_to_dial@@") copies the number, erases the pattern completely and reaches the document and the number to hylafax, each to the right connector.
My description is not that good, I am not a developer (nor well english speaking).
I hope this helps and you will upgrade WinPrint hylafax reloaded to take care of (a) pattern(s) in the PS-Document reached to WinPrint hylafax reloaded.
I can test it in our environment if you want me to.
Thank you,
Jochen
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an experimental version is available to download from SVN.
it uses regular expressions to find the number inside the PostScript stream.
the default pattern (user editable in the configuration) is:
\(@{3}(\d[\d[:blank:]/-]*)@{3}\)
it matches patterns like @@@0123/456789@@@
note that the regex MUST have a capturing group, otherwise the software will refuse it (this was introduced to enforce the fact that the regex must match the PostScript command (@@@0123/456789@@@), but only 0123/456789 is to be kept).
IMPOTRANT: I made some tests, and the PS driver does not always preserve the full string @@@number@@@. Sometimes it splits the string across multiple lines:
... (@@@number) ...
... (@@@) ...
Unless I write a full featured PostScript parser (which I am not going to do :)) I don't know exactly how to prevent this. I noticed, although, that:
- keeping the text in a standard font (eg Times New Roman)
- keeping it black
- keeping it alone, eg in a corner of the page
all these precautions seem to help the driver outputting what we need to grab the number.
any feedback appreciated.
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rel. 0.4.1 adopts a more robust approach to the problem, using Ghostscript to grab text from the page.
also the default regular expression was changed, so it works on numbers in the form
###0123456789###
###recipient@0123456789###
and so on. Please check this new version, I think it is worth a try.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Thank you very much, this is very useful for us, too.
Now, two things would make it even more useful, but maybe that's already possible and I just didn't see it?:
Can the driver somehow be told to remove anything matched by the regexp from the document?
I tried using this with mail merge in Word, so that every page (or every N pages) a new recipient is stated via ###number###. But that doesn't seem to work. It should effectively result in a batch of fax jobs to be submitted accordingly. Of course, there should not be a message box "Job ### submitted" for each and every part of the batch - which could be several hundred individual jobs.
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Can the driver somehow be told to remove anything matched by the regexp from the document?
no. the program uses ghostscript to convert the document to plain text, then it looks for the pattern inside the text. it won't read PostScript or PDF directly and won't be able to modify it.
but there's a workaround for this: use a white font. the program will find the pattern anyway, and you won't see it on your fax.
I tried using this with mail merge in Word, so that every page (or every N pages) a new recipient is stated via ###number###
be careful. wphfr is NOT able to split a single document into multiple faxes. i.e. if you want to send 100 faxes to 100 different recipients, you can't do this by submitting a single 100 pages document to the program (even if each page has its own fax number on it; even worse, in this case EACH recepient will receive a 100 pages fax).
to send 100 faxes to 100 recipients you have to produce 100 separate documents and submit them individually to wphfr.
unfortunately, ms word's mail merge produces a big document, unless you install some plugins: http://www.gmayor.com/individual_merge_letters.htm
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
and, oh, don't forget to update to the latest release (0.4.2).
it has some bugfixes on PostScript / PDF / Ghostscript interaction and automatic number detection.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I don't know Tobit, but that feature looks interesting for batch sending.
Can you provide more details on how Tobit does this?
Where do you put the @@0123456789@@ string so Tobit can recognize it as the recipient's number?
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Hi!
Good job, thanks for your work!
The requested feature "submit number with document" would be highly appreciated by me (us), too!
I can try to "help" you in describing the direct way in our implementation so far:
We have a working hylafax-Server with a yaffas/Bitbone-Upgrade (www.bitbone.de).
This server shares a faxprinter to every (Windows-) client.
The document (a post-script document) is send to the faxprinter.
The faxprinter from Bitbone searches for a special pattern (eg. "@@number_to_dial@@") copies the number, erases the pattern completely and reaches the document and the number to hylafax, each to the right connector.
My description is not that good, I am not a developer (nor well english speaking).
I hope this helps and you will upgrade WinPrint hylafax reloaded to take care of (a) pattern(s) in the PS-Document reached to WinPrint hylafax reloaded.
I can test it in our environment if you want me to.
Thank you,
Jochen
an experimental version is available to download from SVN.
it uses regular expressions to find the number inside the PostScript stream.
the default pattern (user editable in the configuration) is:
\(@{3}(\d[\d[:blank:]/-]*)@{3}\)
it matches patterns like @@@0123/456789@@@
note that the regex MUST have a capturing group, otherwise the software will refuse it (this was introduced to enforce the fact that the regex must match the PostScript command (@@@0123/456789@@@), but only 0123/456789 is to be kept).
IMPOTRANT: I made some tests, and the PS driver does not always preserve the full string @@@number@@@. Sometimes it splits the string across multiple lines:
... (@@@number) ...
... (@@@) ...
Unless I write a full featured PostScript parser (which I am not going to do :)) I don't know exactly how to prevent this. I noticed, although, that:
- keeping the text in a standard font (eg Times New Roman)
- keeping it black
- keeping it alone, eg in a corner of the page
all these precautions seem to help the driver outputting what we need to grab the number.
any feedback appreciated.
rel. 0.4.1 adopts a more robust approach to the problem, using Ghostscript to grab text from the page.
also the default regular expression was changed, so it works on numbers in the form
###0123456789###
###recipient@0123456789###
and so on. Please check this new version, I think it is worth a try.
Thank you very much, this is very useful for us, too.
Now, two things would make it even more useful, but maybe that's already possible and I just didn't see it?:
Can the driver somehow be told to remove anything matched by the regexp from the document?
I tried using this with mail merge in Word, so that every page (or every N pages) a new recipient is stated via ###number###. But that doesn't seem to work. It should effectively result in a batch of fax jobs to be submitted accordingly. Of course, there should not be a message box "Job ### submitted" for each and every part of the batch - which could be several hundred individual jobs.
no. the program uses ghostscript to convert the document to plain text, then it looks for the pattern inside the text. it won't read PostScript or PDF directly and won't be able to modify it.
but there's a workaround for this: use a white font. the program will find the pattern anyway, and you won't see it on your fax.
be careful. wphfr is NOT able to split a single document into multiple faxes. i.e. if you want to send 100 faxes to 100 different recipients, you can't do this by submitting a single 100 pages document to the program (even if each page has its own fax number on it; even worse, in this case EACH recepient will receive a 100 pages fax).
to send 100 faxes to 100 recipients you have to produce 100 separate documents and submit them individually to wphfr.
unfortunately, ms word's mail merge produces a big document, unless you install some plugins: http://www.gmayor.com/individual_merge_letters.htm
and, oh, don't forget to update to the latest release (0.4.2).
it has some bugfixes on PostScript / PDF / Ghostscript interaction and automatic number detection.