API Documentation > SOAP API > Outbound Fax Reference > Programmer’s Guide

Programmer’s Guide

Sending a quick fax

The simplest way to send a fax is by using the SendCharFax method for textual files (such as simple ASCII), or the Sendfax method for binary files (MS Word .DOC, MS Excel .XLS, etc) or the. These require minimal data and enable a quick submission of a single document to a single destination fax number.

Upon successful submission of a message to the Interfax Web Service, SendCharfax and Sendfax return a token value that can later be used to query the fax’s status. This token is called TransactionID. This is the actual numerator of the fax within the InterFAX system.

In case of an error in submitting the message to the service, an error code is returned.

Sending a fax with advanced features

If you require more flexibility in sending a fax, you may want to use the SendfaxEx_2 method.

This method requires more parameters but enables more advanced sending capabilities, such as:

  • Sending multiple documents
  • Sending a fax to multiple destinations
  • Scheduling the transmission time of a fax
  • Controlling the CSID and Reply email address
  • Providing a reference (Subject field) to be used when obtaining message status

Upon successful submission of the message to the Interfax Web Service, SendfaxEx_2 returns a token value that can later be used to query the fax’s status.

In case of an error in submitting the message to the service, an error code is returned.

Getting outbound status

If you wish to programmatically retrieve the status of a previously submitted message, you can use the FaxStatus or FaxQuery methods. FaxStatus and FaxQuery return status information for either one or multiple messages in a single call.

Retrieving the outbound fax image

The image of a fax can be obtained by calling the GetFaxImage method. The GetFaxImage request is submitted with a TransactionID and in return downloads a multi-page fax image in TIFF format. The image can be stored as a file on a disk, viewed or printed by standard fax viewers, such as Imaging for Windows.