Table of Contents
i-fax.com Architecture
The i-fax.com Plug-In is split into two parts:
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The Barcode Generator
The Barcode Generator takes any value generated by your application that you want to use to uniquely identify a document (such as a transaction key or a record number) and generates a barcode that can be inserted into a web page or document generated by your application.
i-fax.com also provides utilities for merging barcodes with existing PDF documents and for creating sheets of barcoded laser address labels for barcoding existing paper documents. Please visit http://www.i-fax.com/plugin.html for a full list of our plug-ins.
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Your Website
When an end user sends a barcoded document to the i-fax.com server (by fax or scanner), the barcode is interpreted by i-fax.com's server. The i-fax.com server renames the document with the encoded identifier found in the barcode and sends the document to you by FTP file transfer or as an email.
Visual Basic BMP Version of the i-fax.com Plug-In
Description of the Visual Basic BMP Version of the i-fax.com Plug-In
The i-fax.com Visual Basic plug-in contains "com.Ifax.Barcode.BMP64.dll" which creates i-fax.com barcodes as BMP images, allowing you to quickly and simply add the i-fax.com barcode to your documents. The i-fax.com class encodes numbers as big as 64 bits in length (not greater than 18,446,744,073,709,551,615) and is compatible with the HTML and PDF versions of the i-fax.com Plug-In.
Installing the Visual Basic BMP Version of the i-fax.com Plug-In onto your Website
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Place the com.Ifax.Barcode.BMP64.dll file in a location where your application can find it, normally the same directory your application resides in. For a Visual Basic application, this would be the bin directory of the application. Make sure that the dll file has the correct ownership and permissions to be accessible by your application.
- Put the example files
ifaxbmp64wrapper.vb and ifaxbmp64example.vb in a testing directory.
Choosing a Value to Encode
Prior to creating a Barcode, your application must create a unique identifier and encode it for inclusion in the Barcode. A unique identifier can be any number that your application will find meaningful; a transaction ID, a sequence number, an account number, or a form number.
When an end user returns a document encoded with an i-fax.com Barcode, you will use this unique identifier number to link the document image to the data on your website or in your database.
You do not need to encode large amounts of data in the i-fax.com Barcode. You can use a record identifier that will link the Barcoded document or HTML page to data that was captured while a user was on-line.
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Warning:
This unique identifier value is leaving your site and your control.
It is important that you use the least amount of information necessary. For example, it is not recommended that you use a person's account number when you can use a transaction identifier for a specific transaction.
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Using com.Ifax.Barcode.BMP64.dll
The i-fax.com barcode is available for many platforms and formats. In the BMP version, your encoded unique identifier is converted into a BMP image of an i-fax.com Barcode that can be inserted into a document. Since the Barcode will be in BMP format, the end user will not require a Client Side Plug-In to view and print Barcoded documents.
For information on using i-fax.com barcodes with other document formats (Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, HTML, GIF, SVG and BMP), please visit http://www.i-fax.com/plugin.html.
com.Ifax.Barcode.BMP64.dll contains a method called getBMP that takes two parameters, a Stream output and an unsigned long ID.
The Stream output is a Stream to which the merged PDF file is copied -- use a FileStream if you want to merge the pdf to a new file, the Console.Out stream if you want to send it to the console, or to the Response.OutputStream of an Visual Basic page. - The unsigned long ID, the value of a number up to 64 bits in length (between 0 and 18,446,744,073,709,551,615).
void getBMP (Stream output, ulong id)
A second method, getDIB, generates the barcode in Device Independant Bitmap (DIB) format. It takes two parameters as well..
The Stream output is a Stream to which the merged PDF file is copied -- use a FileStream if you want to merge the pdf to a new file, the Console.Out stream if you want to send it to the console, or to the Response.OutputStream of an Visual Basic page. - The unsigned long ID, the value of a number up to 64 bits in length (between 0 and 18,446,744,073,709,551,615).
void getDIB (Stream output, ulong id)
Placing the BMP Barcode
The BMP image produced by getBMP should be inserted in your web page carefully.
Placement of the BMP Barcode must follow these rules:
- The BMP Barcode must be at the top of the page, with a margin of empty space on three sides (approximately ¾ inch above, right and left). Placing an i-fax.com barcode at the top and bottom of each page will significantly improve the recognition rate of the barcode and will substantially reduce your labor costs.
- There should not be any graphics, such as logos etc., above the BMP Barcode.
Warning
Failure to place the BMP Barcode in the correct area of a document page may cause the Barcode to be rejected by i-fax.com's Server. |
Your Website
When an end user sends a barcoded document to the
i-fax.com server (by fax or scanner), the barcode is
interpreted by i-fax.com's server. The
i-fax.com server renames the document with the
encoded identifier found in the barcode and sends the
document to your website by FTP file transfer or as an
email.
File Types
i-fax.com will deliver files to your server by
FTP or Email. Every file sent from the i-fax.com
server will follow this naming convention:
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i-fax.com File
Naming Convention
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa_bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb_999.TTT
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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa |
The unique identifier found in the
i-fax.com Barcode (created by the
i-fax.com barcode generator by your
application).
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bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb |
A transaction key assigned by
i-fax.com.
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999 |
The page number (000 is reserved for the
thumbnail) for JPEG files only.
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TTT |
The file extension of different output
formats, e.g. pdf, tif, jpg, udt.
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| Unique Identifier |
The unique identifier is the value that your
application assigned at the time the i-fax.com
Barcode was created using the i-fax.com
Plug-In.
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| Transaction Key |
i-fax.com assigns a unique transaction key
to every transaction that is processed by a server.
This transaction key ensures that each file that your
web server receives is unique and is not overwritten
in the event that a user sends the same document
twice.
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| Page Number |
The JPEG standard does not support multi-page
documents. As a result, i-fax.com will deliver
a separate JPEG file for each page in the document.
These files will be numbered from 001 ... 999. Please
note that number 000 is reserved for a JPEG thumbnail
page that is explained below.
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File Formats
The following file types are produced by the
i-fax.com server:
- The first page of the document is provided in a
miniature version in JPEG format (240 x 345 pixels).
This feature can be turned off by i-fax.com (on
your customer profile). If you want this feature turned
off, please contact service@i-fax.com.
The "thumbnail" allows your application to
display a small version of the document (e.g. as a search
result).
- When you sign-up for the i-fax.com
service you will be given the option of selecting one or
more image formats for your documents. i-fax.com
supports 4 image formats. The format you choose will
depend on your application.
Adobe
PDF
The i-fax.com server can produce a multi-page
PDF file containing the document. The document is
compressed in Group IV format to conserve storage
space.
TIFF
The i-fax.com server can produce a multi-page
Group IV TIFF file containing the document.
JPEG
The i-fax.com server will produce a series of
JPEG files, each containing a page of the
document.
PNG
The i-fax.com server will produce a series of
PNG files, each containing a page of the
document.
- If you have elected to receive documents using FTP,
SFTP or SSH, i-fax.com will
send a file with a .udt extension to indicate that
your document has been sent. Clients using earlier
versions of i-fax.com product should see the
following link fin_guide.html.
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This file will not appear on
your server until all of the document images associated
with your transaction have been delivered (in PDF, TIFF,
JPEG or PNG format).
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Warning
Regarding FTP, SFTP and SSH
Transactions
Your application should
not start processing files in your FTP, SFTP or SSH
directory until the .udt file is detected on your
server.
The .udt file is not
sent to your server until all of
the files related to your transaction have been
sent. So your server application should
"poll" for the .udt file. This will
ensure that your application does not start
processing files before they have been completely
transmitted to your server.
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.udt File
Contents
The .udt file contains information about the
files received by i-fax.com.
| Field Name |
Description |
| CallerID |
The caller id of the fax machine that the
document was faxed from. If the document was not
faxed or there was no caller id then the field is set
to "Unknown". |
| TransID |
The unique identifier encoded in the barcode on
the document. This is the same unique id used in the
returned file names. |
| Pages |
The count of pages processed for the
document. |
| Orientation |
"0" if the document was scanned or
faxed with the barcode right side up, or
"1" if the barcode was upside down. When a
document is faxed or scanned in upside down, the
i-fax.com server rotates them before sending
them on for ease of handling. |
| To |
If the document was efiled instead
of faxed, the "To:" line of the email is
put here |
| From |
If the document was efiled instead
of faxed, the "From:" line of the email is
put here |
| Subject |
If the document was efiled instead
of faxed, the "Subject:" line of the email
is put here |
| Senddate |
If the document was efiled instead
of faxed, the "Date:" line of the email
header is put here |
A two-page document encoded with a "unique
identifier" of 639787744 that is faxed upside down
would have the following in the .udt file:
CallerID=Unknown
TransID=63978744
Pages=2
Orientation=1
If you have elected to use i-fax.com's
OCR service then the .udt file will
contain the ocr'd text. Each page of text will start
with a page identifier in the form [Page 1]
followed by the text found on that page. A two-page
document encoded with a "unique identifier" of
639787744 that is faxed upside down would have the
following in the .udt file:
CallerID=Unknown
TransID=63978744
Pages=2
Orientation=1
[Page 1]
...text found on page 1...
[Page 2]
...text found on page 2...
Note:
You will find examples of the Adobe PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG
and .udt files with the files you receive when you
Download the Plug-In.
File Transfer
Options
i-fax.com can deliver files to your server in one of two
methods, using a file transfer protocol (such as FTP, SFTP
or SSH) or using Email:
FTP, SFTP
(Secure Socket Layer) and SSH (Secure Shell)
i-fax.com will transfer a group of files to
the server you specify when you sign-up for the
i-fax.com service. You will be asked to provide an
FTP, SFTP or shh account and a directory on your site that
is accessible to a file transfer from
i-fax.com.
It is recommended that you design your application to
poll this directory looking for files with the .udt
extension. i-fax.com always sends a .udt file
when a transaction has been fully transferred.
A number of strategies can be used to initiate the
polling process. The strategy you chose will depend on the
tools available to you on the web server you are using for
your website:
- On Unix or Linux servers, you can schedule a job in
the crontab that will capture transactions in your FTP
directory and incorporate them with your web database.
(This will not be possible in most hosted web
environments.)
- On a Windows
NT®/2000/XP® server, you
can schedule a task in the Task Scheduler that will
capture transactions in your FTP, SFTP or SSH home
directory and incorporate them with your web database.
(This will not be possible in most hosted web
environments.)
- You can imbed a CGI script in a web page
that is executed when the page is accessed. The CGI
script can be designed to detect the arrival of a
.udt file in the FTP directory and process the
incoming document. The CGI script can be placed within a
page that runs when users wish to access a document or in
a page that is run frequently.
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Note:
For clients that require additional security,
i-fax.com provides 128 bit encryption
(Secure Socket Layer or Secure Shell) free of
additional charge. i-fax.com's
service is HIPAA compliant.
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Email
i-fax.com will email a group of files to the email
address you specify when you sign-up for the
i-fax.com service.
Each email sent by the i-fax.com server will
contain all of the files pertaining to a specific document.
In the event that an end user sends multiple documents in
one fax or scan (each document having a unique
i-fax.com Barcode), the i-fax.com server will
transmit each document and its associated files in a
separate email.
Emails sent by the i-fax.com server will contain
the relevant files for a given document as attachments.
Each email will contain the following entry in the
"subject" line:
Document
for transaction #{unique identifier from i-fax.com
Barcode}
A number of strategies can be used to incorporate
documents that have arrived by email. These include
programs such as Procmail (for Unix and Linux environments)
and Microsoft Exchange (for Windows
NT®/2000/XP®).
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