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Viewing Faxes on the Web By Mark Nielsen

1. Introduction
2. Setting up Apache 2.0
3. Suggestions for you
4. Conclusion
5. References

Introduction

For my setup, I was using efax, which is not that easy to get along with. For any sane person, I recommend HylaFax or some other alternative (mgetty has some hope).

Please read my other efax article at Linux Focus.

Configuring Apache 2.0

I have a directory, /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/fax, where I put in my Perl script and .htaccess files.

Underneath this directory, I have these directories:

• home -- my faxes go here
• ab -- where other Audioboomerang faxes go.
• source -- where we have the original faxes at.
• display -- the list of faxes yet to be viewed/archived.
• archives -- where the ps and pdf files are archived.

AuthName Test
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /usr/local/apache2/passwords/Passwords

order deny,allow
require user mark ted

You can change/add passwords with htpasswd.

Next, the last thing is to create a perl script. Here is my very crude Perl script. If I ever do anything else with it, I will convert it to a Python script first as Python is the next wave for programming (I hope). Python, Zope, Apache, Linux, and PostgreSQL are the top choices for my programming environment. Save it as "fax.pl" and perform a "chmod 755 fax.pl" after saving it.

You can download it or just view it below.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI;

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n\n";

my $Home = "/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/fax";
my $Source = "$Home/source";
my $Archives = "$Home/archives";
my $AB_Archives = "$Home/ab";
my $Display = "$Home/display";
my $Home_Archives = "$Home/home";

`mkdir -p $Source`;
`mkdir -p $Archives`;
`mkdir -p $Display`;
`rsync -av /var/spool/fax/incoming/fax* $Source`;
`mkdir -p $AB_Archives`;

#------------------------------------
my @Files = <$Source/fax*>;
foreach my $File (@Files) 
  {
#  print "$File\n";
  my (@Temp) = split(/\//, $File);
  my $File_Name = pop @Temp;
  if (!(-e "$Archives/$File_Name\.pdf"))
    {
    print "<br>Processing new fax: $File\n";
    my $Command = "tiff2ps $File > $Archives/$File_Name\.ps";
#    print "$Command\n"; 
    `$Command`;
    my $Command = "/usr/bin/ps2pdf $Archives/$File_Name\.ps $Archives/$File_Name\.pdf";
#    print "$Command\n";
    `$Command`;
    `cp $Archives/$File_Name\.pdf $Display/$File_Name\.pdf`;

    }
  }

#---------------------------------------
my $query = new CGI;
my $Action = $query->param('action');
my $File = $query->param('file');
$File =~ s/[^a-zA-Z0-9\_\.]//g;

if (!(-e "$Display/$File")) {}
elsif ($Action eq "archive") 
  {
  print "<br>Archiving $File\n";
  `rm -f $Display/$File`;
  }
elsif ($Action eq "archive2")
  {
  print "<br>Archiving $File\n";
  `cp $Display/$File $AB_Archives/`;
  `rm -f $Display/$File`;
  }
elsif ($Action eq "archive_home")
  {
  print "<br>Archiving $File\n";
  `cp $Display/$File $Home_Archives/`;
  `rm -f $Display/$File`;
  }


print qq(<hr><a href="archives/">Archives</a> -- might be password protected.
<br><a href="home/">Home Archives</a> -- might be password protected.
<br><a href="ab/">Audioboomerang Archives</a>\n);

my $Table_Entries = "";
my @Files = <$Display/fax*>;
foreach my $File (sort @Files)
  {
  my (@Temp) = split(/\//, $File);
  my $File_Name = pop @Temp;
  my $Link = "<a href='display/$File_Name'>$File_Name</a>";
  my $Delete = "<a href='fax.pl?action=archive&file=$File_Name'>archive file</a>";
  my $AB ="<a href='fax.pl?action=archive2&file=$File_Name'>archive to AB</a>";
  my $Home ="<a href='fax.pl?action=archive_home&file=$File_Name'>archive for Home</a>";

  $Table_Entries .= qq(<tr><td>$Link</td><td>$Delete</td><td>$Home</td><td>$AB</td></tr>\n);
  }

print "<table border=1><tr><th>View Fax</th><th>Archive the Fax</th>
<th>Archive to AudioBoomerang</th></tr>\n";
print $Table_Entries;
print "</table>\n";

if (@Files < 1) {print "<h1> No faxes or they are all archived.</h1>\n";}

Suggestions for you.

1. I normally write in Python 2.2 these days, as this should be rewritten in. I just happened to use Perl because I was testing mod_perl and Apache 2.0.
2. Write a Python script to let people upload PostScript, images, or other file formats that Linux can convert to tiff to send out as faxes. In addition, the Python script should receive the telephone number, cover letter, etc. to make the system flexible.
3. Create a Python/TK or wxPython script which acts as a client program to send and recieve faxes from your Apache 2.0 server. The trick here is that people might have to create a postscript file first to upload faxes or better yet, figure out some way to directly print to the Python Script.
4. When you have a multiple page fax, have the Perl/Python script on the webserver detect and order the pages and merge them into one ps file with psmerge or other tool.
5. Faxes can be pretty sensitive so use the secure service in Apache 2.0 for viewing or sending your faxes.

Conclusion

I am not sure what other fax setups utilize the web, but from my perspective, I always want to have access to my faxes over the web or to send a fax over the web.

References

1. If this article changes, it will be available here http://www.tcu-inc.com/Articles/31/nielsen.html