How to print JTextArea??

Question

I am trying to print JTextArea which has more than one page of text. When there is more than one page of text in JTextArea, it only prints what is there on first page eventhough it print multiple pages.
Here is the code I am using. Let me know if you know what I am doing wrong.
public class TextAreaPrint implements Printable {
     private JTextArea textArea;
     public TextAreaPrint(JTextArea area) {
     textArea = area;
     PrinterJob pj = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
     pj.setPrintable(TextAreaPrint.this);
     pj.printDialog();
     try{
          pj.print();
     catch(PrinterException pe){System.out.println("Error");}
     public int print(Graphics g, PageFormat format, int pageNumber)
throws PrinterException
double pageOffset = pageNumber * format.getImageableHeight();
View view = textArea.getUI().getRootView(textArea);
if(pageOffset > view.getPreferredSpan(View.Y_AXIS))
return Printable.NO_SUCH_PAGE;
Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
g2.translate(format.getImageableX(), format.getImageableY());
textArea.paint(g2);
return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;
thanks
amit

Answer 1

Try this class performs simple printing of a JTextArea by extending JTextArea and implementing Printable.
All you need to do is invoke SimplePrintableJTextArea.print() from your application.
* PrintableJTextArea.java
package your.package;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.FontMetrics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.print.Printable;
import java.awt.print.PrinterException;
import java.awt.print.PrinterJob;
import javax.print.attribute.HashPrintRequestAttributeSet;
import javax.print.attribute.standard.Chromaticity;
import javax.print.attribute.standard.MediaPrintableArea;
import javax.print.attribute.standard.OrientationRequested;
import javax.print.attribute.standard.PrintQuality;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.text.BadLocationException;
* @author David J. Ward
public class SimplePrintableJTextArea extends JTextArea implements Printable {
* Holds value of property jobName.
private String jobName = "Print Job for "+System.getProperty("user.name");
/** Creates a new instance of PrintableJTextArea */
public SimplePrintableJTextArea() {
super();
public SimplePrintableJTextArea(String text) {
super(text);
int inchesToPage(double inches) {
return (int)(inches*72.0);
int left_margin = inchesToPage(0.5);
int right_margin = inchesToPage(0.5);
int top_margin = inchesToPage(0.5);
int bottom_margin = inchesToPage(0.5);
public void print() {
// Create a printerJob object
final PrinterJob printJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
// Set the printable class to this one since we
// are implementing the Printable interface
printJob.setPrintable(this);
printJob.setJobName(jobName);
//Collect the print request attributes.
final HashPrintRequestAttributeSet attrs = new HashPrintRequestAttributeSet();
attrs.add(OrientationRequested.PORTRAIT);
attrs.add(Chromaticity.COLOR);
attrs.add(Chromaticity.MONOCHROME);
attrs.add(PrintQuality.NORMAL);
attrs.add(PrintQuality.DRAFT);
attrs.add(PrintQuality.HIGH);
//Assume US Letter size, someone else can do magic for other paper formats
attrs.add(new MediaPrintableArea(0.25f, 0.25f, 8.0f, 10.5f, MediaPrintableArea.INCH));
// Show a print dialog to the user. If the user
// clicks the print button, then print, otherwise
// cancel the print job
if (printJob.printDialog()) {
//You may want to do the printing in a thread or SwingWorker
//But this gets the job done all the same.
try {
printJob.print(attrs);
} catch (Exception PrintException) {
PrintException.printStackTrace();
public int print(java.awt.Graphics graphics, java.awt.print.PageFormat pageFormat, int pageIndex) throws PrinterException {
Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) graphics;
//Found it unwise to use the TextArea font's size,
//We area just printing text so use a a font size that will
//be generally useful.
g2.setFont(getFont().deriveFont(9.0f));
int bodyheight = (int)pageFormat.getImageableHeight();
int bodywidth = (int)pageFormat.getImageableWidth();
int lineheight = g2.getFontMetrics().getHeight()-(g2.getFontMetrics().getLeading()/2);
int lines_per_page = (bodyheight-top_margin-bottom_margin)/lineheight;
int start_line = lines_per_page*pageIndex;
if (start_line > getLineCount()) {
return NO_SUCH_PAGE;
int page_count = (getLineCount()/lines_per_page)+1;
int end_line = start_line + lines_per_page;
int linepos = (int)top_margin;
int lines = getLineCount();
g2.translate(pageFormat.getImageableX(), pageFormat.getImageableY());
for (int line = start_line; line < end_line; line++) {
try {
String linetext = getText(
getLineStartOffset(line),
getLineEndOffset(line)-getLineStartOffset(line));
g2.drawString(linetext, left_margin, linepos);
} catch (BadLocationException e) {
//never a bad location
linepos += lineheight;
if (linepos > bodyheight-bottom_margin) {
break;
return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;
}