NTpage Consists of:
 | NTpage Server (an NT service) |
| NTpage Watcher (an NT service) |
| NTpage Client (DLL, EXE, or ISAPI to send an alphanumeric page) |
| NTpage Setup GUI (Easily configures the NT registry for NT Page Server
operation) |
NTpage Server
The NTpage Server is an NT Service that queues alphanumeric messages by
paging carrier and interfaces with the paging companies. Messages are sent to the NT Page
Server through the NTpage Client interface.
NTpage Server handles all the queuing and communication protocols to the
paging carrier. It normally resides on ONE machine while messages are fed from the same
machine or from other machines on a network. The network can be any TCP-IP compatible
network. As an alternative you can use named pipes to communicate across a LAN.
The NTpage Server can talk to a paging carrier using any of the
following connections:
| Dial up TAP (Telocator alphanumeric protocol) (1 or more concurrent
modems in a pool) |
| Direct Connect (Leased Line) TAP |
| Dial once - stay connected TAP |
| Dial up TNPP* |
| Direct Connect (Leased Line) TNPP* |
| Dial once - stay connected TNPP* |
*TNPP is an optional feature
NTpage Watcher
This NT Service can run on the same machine as the NTpage Server or on a
completely separate machine on the network. It’s primary job is to watch the System
and Application NT Event Logs and report new errors to the logs. When a new error occurs
it sends a warning page to a pre-defined list of technicians.
NTpage Watcher uses the NTpage Client to send messages to the NTpage
Server.
NTpage Watcher can also monitor operation of critical applications. You
can instruct NTpage Watcher to look for a predefined file name every X number of minutes.
When NTpage Watch finds this file, it renames it a specified file and resets its timeout
counter. The application program you are monitoring is expected to rename the file back
within the specified time.
NTpage Client
The NTpage Client is the interface to the application to submit a paging message to the
NTpage Server. The NTpage Client can communicate with the NTpage Server on the same
machine (using named pipes) or across the network (using named pipes or TCP-IP using
WinSock)
The NTpage Client currently comes in three flavors - A Windows 32-bit DLL
(NTPAPI32.DLL), a "console" command line EXE (NTPAGER.EXE), or an ISAPI
(Internet Server Application Programming Interface for IIS Web servers and other
supporting ISAPI's) (NTPISAPI.DLL).
Using the NTpage Client, you can easily integrate the Power of Paging into your
application by making a simple function call or spawning the command line EXE.
The DLL has been tested using the following programming languages:
| Visual Basic |
| Access 97, 2000 |
| PowerBuilder 5, 6, 7 |
| Delphi |
| Visual FoxPro |
| Visual C++ |
The DLL should be compatible with any other 32-bit language that can call Windows
DLL's.
The EXE can be called from any application that can run and external program. Some
common applications that we've tested include:
| NT Mail |
| NT Performance monitor |
The ISAPI is used to send a page directly from an HTML Web Page. This function will
work with Microsoft's IIS web server. Other NT based web servers also support the ISAPI
standard.
When calling the DLL or EXE, you are expected to know some information regarding the
pager and the paging company:
| The pager ID (Alpha PIN) (many times is the pager phone number) |
| Access number of paging company (their modem port) |
| Baud rate of the access number |
| Characters per message allowed by the paging carrier |
If you are using TNPP, different information is required.
NTpage Setup GUI
A convenient 32-bit Windows application is available to assist you in maintaining the
various setup parameters.
Other Features of NTpage
Other features included with NTpage are:
| Self-purging log file for debugging |
| Set-up information stored in registry |
| Implemented as a NT Service for auto re-start |
| Full Source Code available with an OEM agreement (restrictions apply) |
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