Sending a fax with CF

I've looked around a bit and not found anything about this, so....

I have a script that sends out emails to a list of... let's call them subscribers.... now the powers that be want them to receive faxes too (if the receipiant gave us a fax number). Is there a native function (hahaha) or a custom tag (please, please) that I can use to do this? Or am I stuck trying to roll my own?

Any help appreciated,
wdn2k

There appears to be a web service to do this. http://www.interfax.net/en/dev/webs...on_sendfax.html There are several custom tags at the CF Dev Exchange that have to do with faxing. You might also check around for Java classes that do faxing, you could probably leverage those.

I've made some progress on this.

First, the idea of using a service isn't going to work. They want a solution that they pay for once, not an ongoing expense.

So, that aside, I've found out we have RightFax for a fax server and that there is a COM object that can be used to send a fax. The problem is I'm a complete newbie to the idea of interfacing with a COM object. The most basic question at this point would be: Can I talk to a COM object with CF, and if so, are there any tutorials available or other advice anyone can give?

Thanks,
wdn2k

You can indeed interact with COM objects, check out CFOBJECT and createObject(). A Google for ColdFusion and COM should get you started, but you'll need to know the API methods exposed by the COM object(s).

Update:
As it turns out the fax server we're using (RightFax) has a "SMTP/POP to fax" interface, so it's just a matter of getting the gateway set up to accept the email and the listener listening for mail to turn into faxes.