How to Build an Answering Machine in VB6

Build a program to work as an answering machine for your phone.

Visual Basic users can attempt to construct an answering machine program using VB6. Such a program would allow for the recording of an outgoing greeting, recording of messages, and playback -- all protected by password by the user.

Things You'll Need

• Microphone to record outgoing greeting
• Sound recording software

Instructions

1. Record an outgoing greeting, using a program such as Windows Sound Recorder. Save the recording as a .wav file.

2. Create calls to use during the course of an incoming call. These calls would cover the functions of opening a phone line, answering the call, playing the outgoing greeting, recording the message from the caller, closing the line and closing the file for later retrieval.

3. Build events and commands for each of the functions listed above. Each sequence will have its own details and calls.

   For the initiation phase, create several calls, to be titled "lineInitializeEx," "lineNegotiateAPIVersion" and "lineGetDevCaps." These calls create the file for saving a message.

   For the answering phase, create calls titled "lineOpen," "lineSetNumRings," and "lineSetStatusMessages." These commands set the instructions for how your system should take the call to begin recording the message.

   For the playback and recording phase, create commands to link to the recording program on your system, to play back the recorded message and to record the incoming message.

   For closing the call, create calls titled "lineDrop," "lineClose" and "lineShutdown." This will save the file for later playback.

References

• QArchive.com: PC 2 Answering Machine
• TAPI-Ex: Telephony Programming Controls
• CodeProject: Answering Machine, TAPI 2.1