Help with code to print HTML in Java 5

Question

Hi,
The following code works and runs successfully..
However, the printing in Java 1.4.2_03 is better than Java 5 (latest version).
i.e in particular the characters are not monospaced compared with compiling with Java 1.4.2_03. e.g si so ss squashed together.
This issue does not seem to occur when running the same code in Java 1.4.2_03. (I haven't tried other 1.4.2 java versions).
Any help would be appreciated. We really need this working under Java 5 or bust.
Here is the complete listing ... PrintHtml.java (it uses the DocumentRenderer)
and following this is the input file.
import javax.swing.text.html.HTMLDocument;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.DataInputStream;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;
import javax.swing.text.html.*;
import java.lang.reflect.*;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Rectangle;
import java.awt.Shape;
import java.awt.print.PageFormat;
import java.awt.print.Printable;
import java.awt.print.PrinterException;
import java.awt.print.PrinterJob;
import javax.swing.JEditorPane;
import javax.swing.text.Document;
import javax.swing.text.PlainDocument;
import javax.swing.text.View;
import javax.swing.text.html.HTMLDocument;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.print.*;
import java.text.ParseException;
public class PrintHtml {
     * Utility helper to convert HTML Text to HTML Document.
     * @param baseUrl URL to be used in order
     * to resolve relative HTML references, in lieu of an
     * HTML BASE tag. May be null, if not required or HTML
     * BASE tag is to be used.
     * @see jbox.view.jfx.JboxHtmlEditor
     * @see jbox.utility.JboxPrint
     * @see jbox.utility.JboxPrintUtil
  public static HTMLDocument htmlTextToHtmlDoc(String htmlText, URL baseUrl)
          try
          //  JboxHtmlEditorKit editorKit = new JboxHtmlEditorKit();
            HTMLEditorKit editorKit = new HTMLEditorKit();
            HTMLDocument doc = (HTMLDocument)editorKit.createDefaultDocument();
               if (baseUrl != null)
                    try
                         doc.setBase(baseUrl);
                    catch(Exception e)
                         //JboxTraceManager.trace(e);
               StringReader reader = new StringReader(htmlText);
               editorKit.read(reader, doc, 0);
         return doc;
          catch(Exception e)
               //JboxTraceManager.trace(e);
               return null;
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      System.out.println("printing...");
      HTMLDocument x = new HTMLDocument();
      DocumentRenderer invoice = new DocumentRenderer();
      //invoice.setScaleWidthToFit(false);
      String s = "";
      try {
        BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream("mark.html"));
        InputStreamReader in = new InputStreamReader(bis , "ASCII");
        StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
        while (true) {
           int datum = in.read();
           if (datum == -1) break;
           sw.write(datum);
        in.close();
        s = sw.toString();
        System.out.println("s="+s);
      catch (IOException e) {
         System.err.println(e);
      HTMLDocument htmldoc = htmlTextToHtmlDoc(s, null);
      invoice.print(htmldoc);
// the good old infamous DocumentRenderer.
/*  Copyright 2002
    Kei G. Gauthier
    Suite 301
    77 Winsor Street
    Ludlow, MA  01056
class DocumentRenderer implements Printable {
/*  DocumentRenderer prints objects of type Document. Text attributes, including
    fonts, color, and small icons, will be rendered to a printed page.
    DocumentRenderer computes line breaks, paginates, and performs other
    formatting.
    An HTMLDocument is printed by sending it as an argument to the
    print(HTMLDocument) method. A PlainDocument is printed the same way. Other
    types of documents must be sent in a JEditorPane as an argument to the
    print(JEditorPane) method. Printing Documents in this way will automatically
    display a print dialog.
    As objects which implement the Printable Interface, instances of the
    DocumentRenderer class can also be used as the argument in the setPrintable
    method of the PrinterJob class. Instead of using the print() methods
    detailed above, a programmer may gain access to the formatting capabilities
    of this class without using its print dialog by creating an instance of
    DocumentRenderer and setting the document to be printed with the
    setDocument() or setJEditorPane(). The Document may then be printed by
    setting the instance of DocumentRenderer in any PrinterJob.
  protected int currentPage = -1;               //Used to keep track of when
                                                //the page to print changes.
  protected JEditorPane jeditorPane;            //Container to hold the
                                                //Document. This object will
                                                //be used to lay out the
                                                //Document for printing.
  protected double pageEndY = 0;                //Location of the current page
                                                //end.
  protected double pageStartY = 0;              //Location of the current page
                                                //start.
  protected boolean scaleWidthToFit = true;     //boolean to allow control over
                                                //whether pages too wide to fit
                                                //on a page will be scaled.
/*    The DocumentRenderer class uses pFormat and pJob in its methods. Note
      that pFormat is not the variable name used by the print method of the
      DocumentRenderer. Although it would always be expected to reference the
      pFormat object, the print method gets its PageFormat as an argument.
  protected PageFormat pFormat;
  protected PrinterJob pJob;
/*  The constructor initializes the pFormat and PJob variables.
  public DocumentRenderer() {
    pFormat = new PageFormat();
    pJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
/*  Method to get the current Document
  public Document getDocument() {
    if (jeditorPane != null) return jeditorPane.getDocument();
    else return null;
/*  Method to get the current choice the width scaling option.
  public boolean getScaleWidthToFit() {
    return scaleWidthToFit;
/*  pageDialog() displays a page setup dialog.
  public void pageDialog() {
    pFormat = pJob.pageDialog(pFormat);
/*  The print method implements the Printable interface. Although Printables
    may be called to render a page more than once, each page is painted in
    order. We may, therefore, keep track of changes in the page being rendered
    by setting the currentPage variable to equal the pageIndex, and then
    comparing these variables on subsequent calls to this method. When the two
    variables match, it means that the page is being rendered for the second or
    third time. When the currentPage differs from the pageIndex, a new page is
    being requested.
    The highlights of the process used print a page are as follows:
    I.    The Graphics object is cast to a Graphics2D object to allow for
          scaling.
    II.   The JEditorPane is laid out using the width of a printable page.
          This will handle line breaks. If the JEditorPane cannot be sized at
          the width of the graphics clip, scaling will be allowed.
    III.  The root view of the JEditorPane is obtained. By examining this root
          view and all of its children, printView will be able to determine
          the location of each printable element of the document.
    IV.   If the scaleWidthToFit option is chosen, a scaling ratio is
          determined, and the graphics2D object is scaled.
    V.    The Graphics2D object is clipped to the size of the printable page.
    VI.   currentPage is checked to see if this is a new page to render. If so,
          pageStartY and pageEndY are reset.
    VII.  To match the coordinates of the printable clip of graphics2D and the
          allocation rectangle which will be used to lay out the views,
          graphics2D is translated to begin at the printable X and Y
          coordinates of the graphics clip.
    VIII. An allocation Rectangle is created to represent the layout of the
          Views.
          The Printable Interface always prints the area indexed by reference
          to the Graphics object. For instance, with a standard 8.5 x 11 inch
          page with 1 inch margins the rectangle X = 72, Y = 72, Width = 468,
          and Height = 648, the area 72, 72, 468, 648 will be painted regardless
          of which page is actually being printed.
          To align the allocation Rectangle with the graphics2D object two
          things are done. The first step is to translate the X and Y
          coordinates of the graphics2D object to begin at the X and Y
          coordinates of the printable clip, see step VII. Next, when printing
          other than the first page, the allocation rectangle must start laying
          out in coordinates represented by negative numbers. After page one,
          the beginning of the allocation is started at minus the page end of
          the prior page. This moves the part which has already been rendered to
          before the printable clip of the graphics2D object.
    X.    The printView method is called to paint the page. Its return value
          will indicate if a page has been rendered.
    Although public, print should not ordinarily be called by programs other
    than PrinterJob.
  public int print(Graphics graphics, PageFormat pageFormat, int pageIndex) {
    double scale = 1.0;
    Graphics2D graphics2D;
    View rootView;
//  I
    graphics2D = (Graphics2D) graphics;
    disableDoubleBuffering(jeditorPane);
//  II
    jeditorPane.setSize((int) pageFormat.getImageableWidth(),Integer.MAX_VALUE);
    jeditorPane.validate();
//  III
    rootView = jeditorPane.getUI().getRootView(jeditorPane);
//  IV
    if ((scaleWidthToFit) && (jeditorPane.getMinimumSize().getWidth() >
    pageFormat.getImageableWidth())) {
      scale = pageFormat.getImageableWidth()/
      jeditorPane.getMinimumSize().getWidth();
      graphics2D.scale(scale,scale);
//  V
    graphics2D.setClip((int) (pageFormat.getImageableX()/scale),
    (int) (pageFormat.getImageableY()/scale),
    (int) (pageFormat.getImageableWidth()/scale),
    (int) (pageFormat.getImageableHeight()/scale));
//  VI
    if (pageIndex > currentPage) {
      currentPage = pageIndex;
      pageStartY += pageEndY;
      pageEndY = graphics2D.getClipBounds().getHeight();
//  VII
    graphics2D.translate(graphics2D.getClipBounds().getX(),
    graphics2D.getClipBounds().getY());
//  VIII
    Rectangle allocation = new Rectangle(0,
    (int) -pageStartY,
    (int) (jeditorPane.getMinimumSize().getWidth()),
    (int) (jeditorPane.getPreferredSize().getHeight()));
//  X
    if (printView(graphics2D,allocation,rootView)) {
      return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;
    else {
      pageStartY = 0;
      pageEndY = 0;
      currentPage = -1;
      return Printable.NO_SUCH_PAGE;
  /** The speed and quality of printing suffers dramatically if
   *  any of the containers have double buffering turned on.
   *  So this turns if off globally.
   *  @see enableDoubleBuffering
  public static void disableDoubleBuffering(Component c) {
    RepaintManager currentManager = RepaintManager.currentManager(c);
    currentManager.setDoubleBufferingEnabled(false);
  /** Re-enables double buffering globally. */
  public static void enableDoubleBuffering(Component c) {
    RepaintManager currentManager = RepaintManager.currentManager(c);
    currentManager.setDoubleBufferingEnabled(true);
/*  print(HTMLDocument) is called to set an HTMLDocument for printing.
  public void print(HTMLDocument htmlDocument) {
    setDocument(htmlDocument);
    printDialog();
/*  print(JEditorPane) prints a Document contained within a JEDitorPane.
  public void print(JEditorPane jedPane) {
    setDocument(jedPane);
    printDialog();
/*  print(PlainDocument) is called to set a PlainDocument for printing.
  public void print(PlainDocument plainDocument) {
    setDocument(plainDocument);
    printDialog();
/*  A protected method, printDialog(), displays the print dialog and initiates
    printing in response to user input.
  protected void printDialog() {
    if (pJob.printDialog()) {
      pJob.setPrintable(this,pFormat);
      try {
        pJob.print();
      catch (PrinterException printerException) {
        pageStartY = 0;
        pageEndY = 0;
        currentPage = -1;
        System.out.println("Error Printing Document");
/*  printView is a recursive method which iterates through the tree structure
    of the view sent to it. If the view sent to printView is a branch view,
    that is one with children, the method calls itself on each of these
    children. If the view is a leaf view, that is a view without children which
    represents an actual piece of text to be painted, printView attempts to
    render the view to the Graphics2D object.
    I.    When any view starts after the beginning of the current printable
          page, this means that there are pages to print and the method sets
          pageExists to true.
    II.   When a leaf view is taller than the printable area of a page, it
          cannot, of course, be broken down to fit a single page. Such a View
          will be printed whenever it intersects with the Graphics2D clip.
    III.  If a leaf view intersects the printable area of the graphics clip and
          fits vertically within the printable area, it will be rendered.
    IV.   If a leaf view does not exceed the printable area of a page but does
          not fit vertically within the Graphics2D clip of the current page, the
          method records that this page should end at the start of the view.
          This information is stored in pageEndY.
  protected boolean printView(Graphics2D graphics2D, Shape allocation,
  View view) {
    boolean pageExists = false;
    Rectangle clipRectangle = graphics2D.getClipBounds();
    Shape childAllocation;
    View childView;
    if (view.getViewCount() > 0 &&
          !view.getElement().getName().equalsIgnoreCase("td")) {
      for (int i = 0; i < view.getViewCount(); i++) {
        childAllocation = view.getChildAllocation(i,allocation);
        if (childAllocation != null) {
          childView = view.getView(i);
          if (printView(graphics2D,childAllocation,childView)) {
            pageExists = true;
    } else {
//  I
      if (allocation.getBounds().getMaxY() >= clipRectangle.getY()) {
        pageExists = true;
//  II
        if ((allocation.getBounds().getHeight() > clipRectangle.getHeight()) &&
        (allocation.intersects(clipRectangle))) {
          view.paint(graphics2D,allocation);
        } else {
//  III
          if (allocation.getBounds().getY() >= clipRectangle.getY()) {
            if (allocation.getBounds().getMaxY() <= clipRectangle.getMaxY()) {
              view.paint(graphics2D,allocation);
            } else {
//  IV
              if (allocation.getBounds().getY() < pageEndY) {
                pageEndY = allocation.getBounds().getY();
    return pageExists;
/*  Method to set the content type the JEditorPane.
  protected void setContentType(String type) {
    jeditorPane.setContentType(type);
/*  Method to set an HTMLDocument as the Document to print.
  public void setDocument(HTMLDocument htmlDocument) {
    jeditorPane = new JEditorPane();
    setDocument("text/html",htmlDocument);
/*  Method to set the Document to print as the one contained in a JEditorPane.
    This method is useful when Java does not provide direct access to a
    particular Document type, such as a Rich Text Format document. With this
    method such a document can be sent to the DocumentRenderer class enclosed
    in a JEditorPane.
  public void setDocument(JEditorPane jedPane) {
    jeditorPane = new JEditorPane();
    setDocument(jedPane.getContentType(),jedPane.getDocument());
/*  Method to set a PlainDocument as the Document to print.
  public void setDocument(PlainDocument plainDocument) {
    jeditorPane = new JEditorPane();
    setDocument("text/plain",plainDocument);
/*  Method to set the content type and document of the JEditorPane.
  protected void setDocument(String type, Document document) {
    setContentType(type);
    jeditorPane.setDocument(document);
/*  Method to set the current choice of the width scaling option.
  public void setScaleWidthToFit(boolean scaleWidth) {
    scaleWidthToFit = scaleWidth;
}The sample input file is "mark.html":::
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
ol { list-style-type: decimal; margin-top: 10; margin-left: 50; margin-bottom: 10 }
u { text-decoration: underline }
s { text-decoration: line-through }
p { font-weight: normal; font-size: medium; margin-top: 15 }
dd p { margin-top: 0; margin-left: 40; margin-bottom: 0 }
ol li p { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
address { color: blue; font-style: italic }
i { font-style: italic }
h6 { font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-small; margin-top: 10; margin-bottom: 10 }
h5 { font-weight: bold; font-size: x-small; margin-top: 10; margin-bottom: 10 }
h4 { font-weight: bold; font-size: small; margin-top: 10; margin-bottom: 10 }
h3 { font-weight: bold; font-size: medium; margin-top: 10; margin-bottom: 10 }
dir li p { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
h2 { font-weight: bold; font-size: large; margin-top: 10; margin-bottom: 10 }
b { font-weight: bold }
h1 { font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin-top: 10; margin-bottom: 10 }
a { color: blue; text-decoration: underline }
ul li ul li ul li { margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
menu { margin-top: 10; margin-left: 40; margin-bottom: 10 }
menu li p { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
table table { border-color: Gray; margin-right: 0; border-style: outset; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
sup { vertical-align: sup }
body { margin-right: 0; font-size: 14pt; font-family: SansSerif; color: black; margin-left: 0 }
ul li ul li ul { list-style-type: square; margin-left: 25 }
blockquote { margin-right: 35; margin-top: 5; margin-left: 35; margin-bottom: 5 }
samp { font-size: small; font-family: Monospaced }
cite { font-style: italic }
sub { vertical-align: sub }
em { font-style: italic }
table table table { border-color: Gray; margin-right: 0; border-style: outset; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
ul li p { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
ul li ul li { margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
var { font-weight: bold; font-style: italic }
table { border-color: Gray; margin-right: 7; border-style: outset; margin-top: 7; margin-left: 7; margin-bottom: 17 }
dfn { font-style: italic }
menu li { margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
strong { font-weight: bold }
ul { list-style-type: disc; margin-top: 10; margin-left: 50; margin-bottom: 10 }
center { text-align: center }
ul li ul { list-style-type: circle; margin-left: 25 }
kbd { font-size: small; font-family: Monospaced }
dir li { margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
th p { font-weight: bold; padding-left: 2; padding-bottom: 3; padding-right: 2; margin-top: 0; padding-top: 3 }
ul li menu { list-style-type: circle; margin-left: 25 }
dt { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
ol li { margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
li p { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
strike { text-decoration: line-through }
dl { margin-top: 10; margin-left: 10; margin-bottom: 10 }
tt { font-family: Monospaced }
ul li { margin-right: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0 }
dir { margin-top: 10; margin-left: 40; margin-bottom: 10 }
pre p { margin-top: 0 }
th { border-color: Gray; border-style: solid; padding-left: 3; padding-bottom: 3; padding-right: 1; padding-top: 1 }
pre { font-family: Monospaced; margin-top: 5; margin-bottom: 5 }
td { border-color: Gray; border-style: inset; padding-left: 3; padding-bottom: 3; padding-right: 1; padding-top: 1 }
td p { padding-left: 2; padding-bottom: 3; padding-right: 2; margin-top: 0; padding-top: 3 }
code { font-size: small; font-family: Monospaced }
small { font-size: x-small }
big { font-size: x-large }
-->
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p style="margin-top: 0">
</p>
<table width="500" cellspacing="20" border="1">
<tr>
<td height="330" valign="top">
<table border="0">
<tr>
<td>
<font size="2">This is to certify that [[Client Name]], born
on [[Client Date of Birth]], of [[Client Residential
                Address]], was the holder of motor vehicle driver
licence number [[Client Licence Number]], first issued on
[[First Issue Date of Holding]] and expired on [[Holding
                Expiry Date]].<br></font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table width="500" border="2">
<tr>
<td>
<table width="480" border="0">
<tr>
<td align="right">
<font size="2"><br>
<b>Fred Flintstone<br>Manager</b><br>Records Services Division<br>State
Police<br>An authorised person for the purposes of the
Road Act 1986</font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">
<font size="2"><b>User ID: wzvqv7<br>Dated: 29 November 2006</b>
</font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Answer 1

I have finally cracked it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The issue is definitely with Java Sun. "Uneven character spacing when printing JTextComponent"
It is raised on the http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6488219
And currently in OPEN state, and raised on 31 Oct 2006 and mentions it was caused by fix 4352983.
So where do we go from here. It's not good because I have tried all later version of the JVM and the issue is still there.
Why? Because it hasn't been fixed yet. Read the bug report above, as it gives more insight -- and mentions the workaround is NOT good for existing code.
So the way forward is to use an earlier version of the JVM 5.
I download the JVM version 1.5.0 (starting version) and works Ok... I would probably think version prior to 4352983 would be Ok too.
Please vote for this.... We have a workaround (use older version of the JVM).
So I am very happy.