Print a .PDF File using Different Printers in Java

Question

I'm trying to write an integration for enterprise system.

There is a web server who is being used by many clients from two different place. There are two network printers installed on this server.

What I want to do is to print PDF documents to these printers. I want the program to send the document to the printer where it was requested.

I can determine the location where the request was made. However I can't set the default printer on runtime.

Since it's a web server that works in background I can't populate a printer dialog and let the user choose the printer. I must be able to set the printer that will be used programmatically.

For now, I'am able to see the registered printers on system by using PrinterJob.lookupPrintServices(); and I can set the service with requested printer but that doesn't change the default printer and the system keeps printing on default printer.

Please give me your ideas on how to achieve it.

Answer 1

By more researching on web I solved my problem. I'm giving it here for those else who might need it;

I concluded the solution from this web site:

http://webmoli.com/2008/11/03/java-print-pdf/

Note: You need to install PdfRenderer .jar library to your project to run the code given in the website: The code initially in PrintPdf.java here doesn't give my solution however the author added a method in comments section to set different printers to print on runtime.

The method is:

/**
* Sets the printer service to be used for printing
*
* @param argPrintServiceName
* @throws PrinterException
*/
public void setPrintService(String argPrintServiceName) throws PrinterException {
PrintService[] printServices = PrinterJob.lookupPrintServices();
int i;
for (i = 0; i < printServices.length; i++) {
if (printServices[i].getName().equalsIgnoreCase(argPrintServiceName)) {
printerJob.setPrintService(printServices[i]);
break;
}
}
if (i == printServices.length) {
throw new PrinterException(“Invalid print service name: ” + argPrintServiceName);
}
}

You need to make a few changes on this method. Since printerJob is not a global variable it will not effect printing. To do this set return parameter of this method to PrintService as:

 public static PrintService setPrintService(String argPrintServiceName) throws PrinterException {
        PrintService psr = null;
    PrintService[] printServices = PrinterJob.lookupPrintServices();
    int i;
    for (i = 0; i < printServices.length; i++) {
    if (printServices[i].getName().equalsIgnoreCase(argPrintServiceName)) {
        psr = printServices[i];          
    break;
    }
    }
    if (i == printServices.length) {
    throw new PrinterException("Invalid print service name: " + argPrintServiceName);
    }
    return psr;
    }

In main method call the method like:

PrintService ps = setPrintService("Printer Name Here");

Now, you need to send this service to other methods;

Change this:

PrintPdf printPDFFile = new PrintPdf(fis, "Test Print PDF");

to

PrintPdf printPDFFile = new PrintPdf(fis, "Test Print PDF", ps);

And those are other methods that you need to change as:

public PrintPdf(byte[] content, String jobName, PrintService ps) throws  
        IOException, PrinterException 
        {
        initialize(content, jobName, ps);
    } 



 public PrintPdf(InputStream inputStream, String jobName, PrintService ps)
    {
     *
     *
     initialize(pdfContent, jobName, ps);
    }

Add this line of code after assigning pjob: pjob.setPrintService(ps);

private void initialize(byte[] pdfContent, String jobName, PrintService ps) throws      
 IOException, PrinterException 
 {
  *
  *
        pjob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
        pjob.setPrintService(ps);
  *
  *
  ...
 }

This code works perfectly plus it is capable to direct-pdf printing.