How to send a fax from Oracle Oracle Tips by Burleson Consulting

Question:  I need to send a fax from Oracle to a fax machine.  Sending the fax is the easy part and I have defined the fax as a printer driver, but I don't understand the process of sending a fax from Oracle.

Answer: In SQL*Reports, you can direct PL/SQL utl_file output to a printer driver, which is set up as a fax driver.

The first step in sending a fax from PL/SQL is to find the interface to the printer driver, so that you can send the phone number and fax text to the driver using Oracle PL/SQL.  The driver, in-turn, sends the fax.

If you are using Microsoft exchange server, Oracle describes a PL/SQL procedure to send a fax using OLE, and Oracle provides support for OLE automation in the OLE2 built-in PL/SQL package.

MOSC note 47498.1 has the complete steps to send a fax from Oracle PL/SQL:

1. Create the Mailx Package using the following two Program Units:

(a) Mailx Package Spec
(b) Mailx Package Body

2. Create a block called MAPIOLE with the following canvas layout:

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