Fax Module
I am a student that is interested in doing a Drupal project for the SoC 2008. Here is an idea I've had for a Fax module. Please give feedback!
To start, the module would use an API like InterFax (http://www.interfax.net/en/dev/index.html). It could also be coded to allow for different API's to be implemented easily. Some possible features are:
- Fax Drupal nodes
- Fax Drupal views
- Fax binary files (.doc, .pdf, images)
- Anything that could be sent over e-mail can also be sent over fax
- Use AJAX to view status of fax (submit time, pages sent, duration, completion time)
Please give some feedback!
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thoughts
It seems like this might be useful to non-profits, for building sites like WriteToThem. Or maybe it could be used for restaurant or other E-commerce orders. I did some digging and it looks like there was some fax functionality added to an old module called Lobby. And there is at least some interest in the idea.
However, since faxing seems to be waning, is there enough demand for this functionality? And it looks like the functionality was added to the Lobby module in a relatively short period of time. So, is there enough to keep you busy for the whole summer?
too easy?
Just with a quick glance, my concern with this is that most of the work is already done in the 3rd party api. Not enough work for a soc project.
The idea of Drupal fax is
The idea of Drupal fax is interesting.
Can you elaborate on which API you would use and "Use AJAX to view status of fax (submit time, pages sent, duration, completion time)"?
The only API I have looked
The only API I have looked at is the InterFax API. It provides two interfaces. One is an e-mail to fax interface. This would easily allow any Drupal module that sends e-mails to also send faxes. There is also a web services interface. This interface can be used to check the status of a fax while it is sending. AJAX would seem to be the best way to do this, rather than having the user click each time they want an update on the status of the fax.
If this is too easy, perhaps this idea can be expanded to a general "communication" module. This module may allow users to choose how they wish to be contacted. The module could make use of the existing SMS API's and VoIP API's to accomplish this. Another way to communicate may be to use a flash based VoIP API (such as http://developer.ribbit.com/). This would be different from existing VoIP modules because it would not require a 3rd party application like Skype to function.