Print text File to specific printer in java

Question

I have a text file, and I need to print it to a specific network printer. I know the name of the printer.

Until now I have made a Printable class to print my file (ticket).

public class TicketPrintPage implements Printable {

    private File ticket;

    public TicketPrintPage(File f) {
        ticket = f;
    }

    public int print(Graphics g, PageFormat pf, int pageIndex) throws PrinterException {
        int interline = 12;
        Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;
        g2.setFont(new Font("CourierThai", Font.PLAIN, 10));
        int x =  (int) pf.getImageableX();
        int y = (int) pf.getImageableY();

        try {
            FileReader fr = new FileReader(ticket);
            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr);

            String s;
            while ((s = br.readLine()) != null) {
                y += interline;
                g2.drawString(s, x, y);
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new PrinterException("File to print does not exist (" + ticket.getAbsolutePath() +") !");
        }
        return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;
    }
}

I call this TicketPrintPage this way :

public void printTicketFile(File ticket, int orientation) throws PrinterException {
    if (!ticket.exists()) {
        throw new PrinterException("Ticket to print does not exist (" + ticket.getAbsolutePath() + ") !");
    }
    PrinterJob pjob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
    // get printer using PrintServiceLookup.lookupPrintServices(null, null) and looking at the name
    pjob.setPrintService(getPrintService());
    // job title
    pjob.setJobName(ticket.getName());

    // page fomat
    PageFormat pf = pjob.defaultPage();
    // landscape or portrait
    pf.setOrientation(orientation);
    // Paper properties
    Paper a4Paper = new Paper();
    double paperWidth  =  8.26;
    double paperHeight = 11.69;
    double margin = 16;
    a4Paper.setSize(paperWidth * 72.0, paperHeight * 72.0);
    a4Paper.setImageableArea(
                margin,
                //0,
                margin,
                //0,
                a4Paper.getWidth()- 2 * margin,
                //a4Paper.getWidth(),
                a4Paper.getHeight()- 2 * margin
                //a4Paper.getHeight()
                ); // no margin = no scaling
    pf.setPaper(a4Paper);
    // Custom class that defines how to layout file text
    TicketPrintPage pages = new TicketPrintPage(ticket);
    // adding the page to a book
    Book book = new Book();
    book.append(pages, pf);
    // Adding the book to a printjob
    pjob.setPageable(book);
    PrintRequestAttributeSet pras = new HashPrintRequestAttributeSet();
        // No jobsheet (banner page, the page with user name, job name, date and whatnot)
    pras.add(JobSheets.NONE);
    // Printing
    pjob.print(pras);
}

It works not so bad but :
- I doesn't work for more than one page of text (found some algorithms for that but well)
- I can't get to know when the printer is done printing, and if I try printing two or more tickets in a row the printer will return a Printer not ready message.

So the question again is : Isn't there a simple way to print a text file to a printer ?

Solution 1

I'm not sure if this solves your problem but I use the following to print a text file

FileInputStream textStream;
textStream = new FileInputStream(FILE_NAME);

DocFlavor flavor = DocFlavor.INPUT_STREAM.AUTOSENSE;
Doc mydoc = new SimpleDoc(textStream, flavor, null);

   PrintService[] services = PrintServiceLookup.lookupPrintServices(
                flavor, aset);
   PrintService defaultService = PrintServiceLookup.lookupDefaultPrintService();

   if(services.length == 0) {
       if(defaultService == null) {
             //no printer found

       } else {
            //print using default
            DocPrintJob job = defaultService.createPrintJob();
            job.print(mydoc, aset);

       }

    } else {

       //built in UI for printing you may not use this
       PrintService service = ServiceUI.printDialog(null, 200, 200, services, defaultService, flavor, aset);


        if (service != null)
        {
           DocPrintJob job = service.createPrintJob();
           job.print(mydoc, aset);
        }

    }

You may not need the ServiceUI, but I think you could use PrintService[] services to get a list of printers available for printing. And using an input stream and the Doc class you can print a file to a printer.

Solution 2

JTextComponent#print should do the trick:

JTextPane jtp = new JTextPane();
jtp.setBackground(Color.white);
jtp.setText("text to print");
boolean show = true;
try {
    jtp.print(null, null, show, null, null, show);
} catch (java.awt.print.PrinterException ex) {
    ex.printStackTrace();
}

in this manner you can quickly print out even nice formatted text - just create a StyledDocument and attach it to JTextPane before printing.

Comments

[Icegras]

This allows me to print the page (I didn't use the printDialog), but the PrintRequestAttributeSet is not taken into account. I ask for landscape and it prints portrait... I think it's because I use PrintServiceLookup.lookupPrintServices(null,null). If I specify a flavor or attributes I get no printer list. Maybe because they are network printers I can't interact with them that way ?

[Muhuri.JSON]

Possibly, I had some trouble with network printing as well. Since I only needed to print one file (the license agreement) I formatted the text file so I wouldn't need to mess with the print settings. I don't have any experience with trying to change settings on a network printer. Sorry.

[Jack Moore]

what is aset for ? I tried to run your code but ran into unavailable aset variable error.

[Muhuri.JSON]

I don;t have the original code anymore. But it is supposed to be a docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/javax/print/attribute/‌​…

[Developer Marius Žilėnas]

In addition to the answer an note from Java SE 7 docs (goo.gl/v85d6f) "this method blocks until printing is done."