How to create printable report from a swing app.

Question

Hi,
I have googled quite a bit and have searched the forum extensively but haven't found answers to my questions.
I have a small swing based application (that uses jtextfields, jbuttons, jlist, etc) that collects information from user
and stores in some variables; which are like strings, integers, hashmap, etc.
Now this information is to be formatted and is to be printed as a report.
Formatted as in, some part of the collected text is to be printed in certain font and other in different color and so on.
Also the report is to be printed on a paper leaving some space at left and at the top. That means margins need to be set.
And before all info is to be sent to printer I need to display this information in some report viewer (preview).
How can I format certain text and set margins? (Is there some Document kind of api which allows me to set margins, change font of certain text?)
How should I display this text / information as a print preview? (Should I use jeditorpane / jtextpane ?)
How should I send all the information to the printer? (What java api should be used for printing?)
The data entered by the user is not saved / persisted to any database. It's to be sent to the printer after submit button is pressed on the swing app.
Since there is no database I couldn't use jasper-reports.
Following are links to all threads (not useful) I found when I searched for swing / print / report in the forum :
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=331&threadID=225351
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=576758
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=570629
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=1&threadID=489905
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=571093
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=257&threadID=138450
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=583150
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=5399572
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=579619
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID=57&threadID=593199
Help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

alan_mehio wrote:
The simplest thing to do in your case is to load the file content into the JTextArea
then to create the header and the footer if there is any from java.text.MessageFormat
then you invoke the print method on the JTextArea instance object> Just let me know if you are face any furrher problem
Alan Mehio,
I have been able to set margins and get the printout just the way I want it (after some experiments / trial & error).
But the problem is, parameters to paper.setImageableArea() are hard coded as in the example code below :
        System.out.println("print?");
        PrinterJob printJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
        if (printJob.printDialog()) {
            PageFormat pf = printJob.defaultPage();
            Paper paper = pf.getPaper();
            paper.setSize(8.5 * 72, 11 * 72);
            System.out.println("paper width : " + paper.getWidth());// expecting 612
            System.out.println("paper height : " + paper.getHeight());// expecting 792
            System.out.println("ImageableHeight : " + paper.getImageableHeight());
            System.out.println("imageable width : " + paper.getImageableWidth());
            System.out.println("ImageableX : " + paper.getImageableX());
            System.out.println("Imageable y : " + paper.getImageableY());
            //paper.setImageableArea(108, 144, paper.getWidth() - 108, paper.getHeight() - 144);
            paper.setImageableArea(222, 244, paper.getWidth() - 222, paper.getHeight() - 244);
            pf.setPaper(paper);
            printJob.setPrintable(jTextArea1.getPrintable(null, null), pf);
            try {
                printJob.print();
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                System.out.println("exception while printing...");
                ex.printStackTrace();
        }In my case the left margin should be 1.5 inches (38.1mm) and top margin should be 2 inches (50.8 mm)
Considering 72dpi printer for a A4 size page (8.5in X 11in), the parameters to paper.setImageableArea() should be
(108, 144, paper.getWidth() - 108, paper.getHeight() - 144);
But the printout leaves only 1inch for top and left margins.
Here are o/p lines for method-call with above said params :
paper width : 612.0
paper height : 792.0
ImageableHeight : 648.0
imageable width : 468.0
ImageableX : 72.0
Imageable y : 72.0
When I pass the following values I get text printed with desired margins on the paper but the above printlns remain exactly the same!
paper.setImageableArea(222.4, 244, paper.getWidth() - 222.4, paper.getHeight() - 244);
Although I have been able to achieve what I wanted to without using 3rd party libraries,
I feel this hard coding of values isn't a good idea and leaves a doubt whether this will work on other systems with different printers.
My question is, how to get these numbers correct every time? Is there a formula for obtaining these numbers?
Also formatting of certain part of to-print text is something that is yet to be figured out.
Thanks.