Technical Notes, Zetafax

INFO: Enabling Zetafax client DDE logging.

ZTN1057

ID: ZTN1057

This Zetafax technical note applies to:

  • Zetafax 6.01 and later.

Summary

Zetafax 6.01 introduced a DDE logging option for the Zetafax client. The DDE conversation will be logged regardless of who the DDE conversation was initiated (ie FoxPro or Visual Basic)

More information

This option is intended to help someone using DDE to ensure that it is being used correctly - if a problem is being experienced this will help both the user and technical support staff to identify where the problem is occurring.

To enable this option on you need to add the line:

DebugDDE: ON

to the end of the [WORKSTATION] section of %windir%\ZETAFAX.INI.

DDE conversations will now be tracked in ZETAFAX.LOG. The LogArea: line in ZETAFAX.INI will determine the location of this file, but is typically either %windir% or the directory given by the TEMP environment variable (eg C:\TEMP or C:\WINDOWS\TEMP).

This is the log file from a sample Word macro with Zetafax 6.01g.  Although the logged information may be extended in future releases the general format is likely to remain the same:

99-11-04 17:01:48 FFFF -------------------- Zetafax program started

99-11-04 17:04:19 FFFF DDEServWndProc            DDE Initiate (window 777804e2): app: " Zetafax" topic: " Addressing"

99-11-04 17:04:19 FFFF DDEServWndProc            DDE Execute (window 777804e2): [DDEControl]

99-11-04 17:04:29 FFFF DDEServWndProc            DDE Poke (window 777804e2): atom: TO, memory: 00ae0034

99-11-04 17:04:29 FFFF DDEServWndProc            DDE Execute (window 777804e2): [Send][DDERelease]

99-11-04 17:04:29 FFFF DDEServWndProc            DDE Terminate (window 777804e2)

99-11-04 17:05:52 0000 -------------------- Zetafax program ending

If there is an error you will get a line saying " returned error #" where the # symbol can be a number from 0 to 6.

The numbers mean:

0

No error

1

Memory error

(workstation out of memory?)

2

Clipboard format not supported

(only text is supported)

3

Conversation not found

(DDE conversation started without initialising it?)

4

Topic not supported

(DDE topic not supported/found)

5

Atom error

(problems with the atom table)

6

Invalid Item

(normally used after the user is told about the error via a dialog box)

Trace logging causes a slight performance and disk usage overhead - it should only be enabled while tracing a problem.

References

For additional information on automation of faxes, please see the following Zetafax technical notes:

ZTN1011-HOWTO: Using Embedded addressing.

ZTN1013-HOWTO: Using ZSUBMIT.

ZTN1032-HOWTO: Using DDE.

Last updated 13 January 2000 (GC/GW)

Verified: 18/10/2005 (EB)