Installing and using InterFAX from Python

InterFAX Python Package

Build Status

  1. Installation
  2. Getting Started
  3. Contributing
  4. Usage
  5. License

Send and receive faxes in Python with the InterFAX REST API.

Installation

This package requires Python 2.6+. You can install it using:

pip install interfax

This module requires libmagic, for help installing on OSX or windows check the python-magic documentation.

Getting started

To send a fax from a PDF file:

from interfax import InterFAX

interfax = InterFAX(username="username", password="password")
fax = interfax.deliver(fax_number="+11111111112", files=["folder/fax.pdf"])
fax = fax.reload() # resync with API to get latest status
fax.status # Success if 0. Pending if < 0. Error if > 0

Usage

  1. Client
  2. Account
  3. Outbound
  4. Inbound
  5. Documents
  6. Helper Classes

Client

The client follows the 12-factor apps principle and can be either set directly or via environment variables.

# Initialize using parameters
interfax = InterFAX(username="...", password="...")

# Alternative: Initialize using environment variables
# * INTERFAX_USERNAME
# * INTERFAX_PASSWORD
interfax = InterFAX()

All connections are established over HTTPS.

Account

Balance

Determine the remaining faxing credits in your account.

>>>  interfax.account.balance()
9.86

More: documentation

Outbound

  1. Send fax
  2. Get list
  3. Get completed list
  4. Get record
  5. Get image
  6. Cancel fax
  7. Cancel fax
  8. Search

Send fax

interfax.outbound.deliver(fax_number, files, **kwargs)

Submit a fax to a single destination number.

There are a few ways to send a fax. One way is to directly provide a file path or url.

# with a path
interfax.outbound.deliver(fax_number="+11111111112", files=["folder/fax.txt"])
# with a URL
interfax.outbound.deliver(fax_number="+11111111112", files=["https://s3.aws.com/example/fax.pdf"])

InterFAX supports over 20 file types including HTML, PDF, TXT, Word, and many more. For a full list see the Supported File Types documentation.

The returned object is a OutboundFax with just an id. You can use this object to load more information, get the image, or cancel the sending of the fax.

fax = interfax.outbound.deliver(fax_number="+11111111112", files=["fax.pdf"])
fax = fax.reload() # Reload fax, allowing you to inspect the status and more

fax.id        # the ID of the fax that can be used in some of the other API calls
fax.image()     # returns an image representing the fax sent to the fax_number
fax.cancel()    # cancel the sending of the fax

Alternatively you can create an File with binary data and pass this in as well.

with open("fax.pdf", "rb") as fp:
    f = interfax.files.create(fp.read(), mime_type="application/pdf")
interfax.outbound.deliver(fax_number="+11111111112", files=[f])

To send multiple files just pass in a list of strings and File_ objects.

interfax.outbound.deliver(fax_number="+11111111112", files=["fax.pdf", "https://s3.aws.com/example/fax.pdf"])

Under the hood every path and string is turned into a File object. For more information see the documentation for this class.

Keyword Arguments: contactpostpone_timeretries_to_performcsidpage_headerreferencepage_sizefit_to_pagepage_orientationresolutionrendering

More: documentation

Aliasinterfax.deliver


Get outbound fax list

interfax.outbound.all(**kwargs)

Get a list of recent outbound faxes (which does not include batch faxes).

>>> interfax.outbound.all()
[OutboundFax(id=1), ...]
>>> interfax.outbound.all(limit=1)
[OutboundFax(id=1)]

Keyword Arguments: limitlast_idsort_orderuser_id

More: documentation


Get completed fax list

interfax.outbound.completed(*args)

Get details for a subset of completed faxes from a submitted list. (Submitted id’s which have not completed are ignored).

>> interfax.outbound.completed(123, 234)
[OutboundFax(id=123), ...]

More: documentation


Get outbound fax record

interfax.outbound.find(fax_id)

Retrieves information regarding a previously-submitted fax, including its current status.

>>> interfax.outbound.find(123456)
OutboundFax(id=123456)

More: documentation


Get outbound fax image

interfax.outbound.image(fax_id)

Retrieve the fax image (TIFF file) of a submitted fax.

>>> image = interfax.outbound.image(123456)
Image(id=123456)
>>> image.data
"....binary data...."
>>> image.save("fax.tiff")
# saves image to file

More: documentation


Cancel a fax

interfax.outbound.cancel(fax_id)

Cancel a fax in progress.

interfax.outbound.cancel(123456)
=> true

More: documentation


Search fax list

interfax.outbound.search(**kwargs)

Search for outbound faxes.

>>> interfax.outbound.search(fax_number="+1230002305555")
[OutboundFax(id=1234), ...]

Keyword Arguments: idsreferencedate_fromdate_tostatususer_idfax_numberlimitoffset

More: documentation

Inbound

  1. Get list
  2. Get record
  3. Get image
  4. Get emails
  5. Mark as read
  6. Resend to email

Get inbound fax list

interfax.inbound.all(**kwargs)

Retrieves a user’s list of inbound faxes. (Sort order is always in descending ID).

interfax.inbound.all()
=> [InboundFax(id=1234), ...]
interfax.inbound.all(limit=1)
=> [InboundFax(id=1234)]

Keyword Arguments: unread_onlylimitlast_idall_users

More: documentation


Get inbound fax record

interfax.inbound.find(fax_id)

Retrieves a single fax’s metadata (receive time, sender number, etc.).

>>> interfax.inbound.find(123456)
InboundFax(id=123456)

More: documentation


Get inbound fax image

interfax.inbound.image(fax_id)

Retrieves a single fax’s image.

>>> image = interfax.inbound.image(123456)
Image(id=123456)
>>> image.data
"....binary data...."
>>> image.save("fax.tiff")
# saves image to file

More: documentation


Get forwarding emails

interfax.inbound.emails(fax_id)

Retrieve the list of email addresses to which a fax was forwarded.

interfax.inbound.email(123456)
[ForwardingEmail()]

More: documentation


Mark as read/unread

interfax.inbound.mark(fax_id, read=True)

Mark a transaction as read/unread.

interfax.inbound.mark(123456, read=True) # mark read
interfax.inbound.mark(123456, read=False) # mark unread

More: documentation


Resend inbound fax

interfax.inbound.resend(fax_id, email=None)

Resend an inbound fax to a specific email address.

>>> # resend to the email(s) to which the fax was previously forwarded
>>> interfax.inbound.resend(123456)
True
>>> # resend to a specific address
>>> interfax.inbound.resend(123456, email="test@example.com")
True

More: documentation


Documents

  1. Create
  2. Upload chunk
  3. Get list
  4. Status
  5. Cancel

Document allow for uploading of large files up to 20MB in 200kb chunks. The File_ format automatically uses this if needed but a sample implementation would look as followed.

document = interfax.documents.create("test.pdf", os.stat("test.pdf").st_size)

with open("test.pdf", "rb") as fp:
    cursor = 0
    while True:
        chunk = fp.read(500)
        if not chunk:
            break
        next_cursor = cursor + len(chunk)
        document.upload(cursor, next_cursor-1, chunk)
        cursor = next_cursor

Create Documents

interfax.documents.create(name, size, **kwargs)

Create a document upload session, allowing you to upload large files in chunks.

>>> interfax.documents.create("large_file.pdf", 231234)
Document(id=123456)

Keyword Arguments: dispositionsharing

More: documentation


Upload chunk

interfax.documents.upload(id, range_start, range_end, chunk)

Upload a chunk to an existing document upload session.

>>> interfax.documents.upload(123456, 0, 999, "....binary-data....")
True

More: documentation


Get document list

interfax.documents.all(options = {})

Get a list of previous document uploads which are currently available.

>>> interfax.documents.all()
[Document(id=123456), ...]
>>> interfax.documents.all(offset=10)
[Document(id=123466), ...]

Keyword Arguments: limitoffset

More: documentation


Get document status

interfax.documents.find(id)

Get the current status of a specific document upload.

>>> interfax.documents.find(123456)
Document(id=123456)

More: documentation


Cancel document

interfax.documents.cancel(id)

Cancel a document upload and tear down the upload session, or delete a previous upload.

>>> interfax.documents.cancel(123456)
True

More: documentation


Helper Classes

OutboundFax

The OutboundFax is returned in most Outbound APIs. As a convenience the following methods are available.

fax = interfax.outbound.find(123)
fax = fax.reload() # Loads or reloads object
fax.cancel() # Cancels the fax
fax.image() # Returns an `Image` for this fax

InboundFax

The InboundFax is returned in some of the Inbound APIs. As a convenience the following methods are available.

fax = interfax.inbound.find(123)
fax = fax.reload() # Loads or reloads object
fax.mark(true) # Marks the fax as read/unread
fax.resend(email) # Resend the fax to a specific email address.
fax.image() # Returns an `Image` for this fax
fax.emails() # Returns a list of ForwardingEmail objects that the fax was forwarded on to

Image

A lightweight wrapper around the image data for a sent or received fax. Provides the following convenience methods.

image = interfax.outbound.image(123)
image.data # Returns the raw binary data for the TIFF image.
image.save("folder/fax.tiff") # Saves the TIFF to the path provided

File

This class is used by interfax.outbound.deliver and interfax.files to turn every URL, path and binary data into a uniform format, ready to be sent out to the InterFAX API.

It is most useful for sending binary data to the .deliver method.

>>> # binary data
>>> f = File(interfax, "....binary data.....", mime_type="application/pdf")
File()

>>> # Alternatively
>>> f = interfax.files.create("....binary data.....", mime_type="application/pdf")
>>> f.headers
{"Content-Type": "application/pdf"}
>>> f.body
"....binary data....."

interfax.outbound.deliver(fax_number="+1111111111112", files=[f])

Additionally it can be used to turn a URL or path into a valid object as well, though the .delivermethod does this conversion automatically.

>>> # a file by path
>>> f = interfax.files.create("foo/bar.pdf")
>>> f.headers
{ "Content-Type": "application/pdf" }
>>> f.body
"....binary data....."

>>> # a file by url
>>> f = interfax.files.create("https://foo.com/bar.html")
>>> f.headers
{"Content-Location": "https://foo.com/bar.html"}
>>> f.body
None

ForwardingEmail

A light wrapper around the response received by asking for the forwarded emails for a fax.

fax = interfax.inbound.find(123)
email = fax.emails()[0]
email.email_address # An email address to which forwarding of the fax was attempted.
email.message_status # 0 = OK; number smaller than zero = in progress; number greater than zero = error.
email.completion_time # Completion timestamp.

Document

The Document is returned in most of the Document APIs. As a convenience the following methods are available.

document = interfax.documents.find(123)
document = document.reload() # Loads or reloads object
document.upload(0, 999, ".....binary data...." # Maps to the interfax.documents.upload method
document.cancel() # Maps to the interfax.documents.cancel method
document.id  # Extracts the ID from the URI (the API does not return the ID)

Contributing

  1. Fork the repo on GitHub
  2. Clone the project to your own machine
  3. Commit changes to your own branch
  4. Push your work back up to your fork
  5. Submit a Pull request so that we can review your changes

Tests

Before submitting a contribution please ensure all tests pass.

pip install tox # install tox
tox # run all tests

or

vagrant up
vagrant exec tox

License

This library is released under the MIT License.