How Do I Print Clear Text?

Question

Hi, I'm new to this forum and new to Java in general, so please bear with me.
I am writing a desktop application that returns textual data in a complex table format. The user needs to be able to edit the data once it is returned, so I display the data in JTextAreas arranged on a JPanel with a gridBagLayout. This displays just fine on screen, but the user needs to be able to print out a hardcopy of the results.
I am able to print out the JPanel, but the method I am using leaves the text looking grainy and bit-mappy-- like an enlarged screen capture. It needs to look as clean and crisp as if it came out of a word processor.
My 'MainClass' instantiates a 'PrinterJob' called 'printJob'. The class that creates the JPanel implements 'Printable', calls the 'setPrintable()' method of 'printJob', and contains the following 'print()' method...
public int print(Graphics g, PageFormat pageFormat, int pageIndex) throws PrinterException {
if (pageIndex > 0){
return NO_SUCH_PAGE;
} else {
Graphics2D g2D = (Graphics2D) g;
g2D.translate(pageFormat.getImageableX(), pageFormat.getImageableY());
MainClass.displayPanel.paintComponents(g2D);
return PAGE_EXISTS;
When I actually print out the page though, the layout of all of the elements is correct but the text looks horrible. I've been scouring the web for days, and I bought two new reference books looking for a solution, but so far I've come up empty.
Can somone out there help me?

Answer 1

When you call a component's paintComponent(Graphics g) method, it automaticly will paint the background and all of the object's graphics/text. When you overload the paintComponent method you normally call the super.PaintComponent(Graphic g) method... which will cause the component to paint it's background. If you wish to avoid painting the background, and thus probably making your text easier to read, you will need another method that draws the same graphic but doesn't call super.paintComponent()
I would suggest haveing something like this:
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
  super.PaintComponent();
  paintGraphics(g);
private void paintGraphics(Graphics g) {
  //paint your graphics here
public void printComponent(Graphics g) {
  paintGraphics(g);
}When you want to print the component call the printComponent method, and when you wish to paint the component you can call the paintComponent method.
I don't really know if this is what you are after,
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