Receive notification of a newly-received fax via callback to your web app
You can select to receive inbound fax notifications directly to your system by callback. When this feature is set, InterFAX places a call to a pre-defined web application URL of yours once a fax is received for you. Your web application should be capable of accepting either an HTTP POST call or a XML Web Service (SOAP) call – based on your preference. Once your app is alerted of an incoming fax, you need to collect the fax image by using the API.
You can also set the system to send you feedback notifications on outbound faxes. For more information, please read the outbound callback documentation.
Preparatory steps
HTTP POST callback
To receive HTTP POST callbacks to a simple script on your server, no preparation is necessary. Skip to “Setting up the callback” below.
SOAP callback
To receive callbacks to a SOAP server, perform these setup steps:
- Set up a web application that is capable of accepting callbacks on your server.
- If you set up a SOAP server, its namespace should be
https://CallBack.Interfax.net/
(namespace is case sensitive, this is the expected WSDL).
- If you set up a SOAP server, its namespace should be
- The web application should contain a web method named “Inbound”.
- The web method should return a string -> “OK”.
Setting up the callback
Login to your InterFAX account and go to Preferences -> Incoming. Find and set the following settings under Advanced Options:
Selection | Description | Possible Values |
---|---|---|
Web Feedback Method | What type of callback does your web application expect | Never , XML Web Service or HTTP POST |
Web Feedback URL | The URL to your web application. | Any valid web address (*) |
(*) please note, InterFAX only supports URLs using standard port 443.
Callback contents
Once Web Feedback is set up, the InterFAX system will call back your web app by HTTP POST or by XML Web Service and provide the following structure:
Parameter Name | Parameter Type | Description |
---|---|---|
TransactionIDType | String | The type of message. Currently sends out static ‘Inbound’ |
TransactionID | Integer | The ID of this transaction |
PhoneNumber | String | The Phone number at which this fax was received |
MessageType | Integer | The type of message. Currently sends out static ‘1’. |
MessageSize | Integer | The size of the inbound fax image (in bytes) |
RemoteCSID | String | The CSID of the sender |
Pages | Integer | The number of pages received in this fax. |
Status | Integer | Status of the fax. See the list of InterFAX Error Codes |
RecordingDuration | Integer | The time (in seconds) that it took to receive the fax |
ReceiveTime | DateTime | The time and date that the fax was received in GMT timezone. When returned via HTTP POST: m/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt. When returned via Web Service: ISO-8601 compliant. |
CallerID | String | The caller ID of the sender |
Once your application has received notification that a new fax has arrived, it needs to collect the fax image from InterFAX servers using the API of your choice. You may also mark your fax as read via the API, but this isn’t compulsory.
This process is detailed in the following diagram.