Printing a jpanel

Question

is it possible to print a jpanel i can print individual components but i want to do a printout that contains many components. any advice

Answer 1

You make the JPanel implement the Printable interface. Here's a small code sample that I recently created when I tried to make a printable panel. Note that I've made it so that the buttons don't print:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.print.PageFormat;
import java.awt.print.Printable;
import java.awt.print.PrinterException;
import java.awt.print.PrinterJob;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class PrintFrame extends JPanel implements Printable
    private static final int TF_SIZE = 20;
    private JFrame mainFrame = null;
    private NoPrintButton insertData = new NoPrintButton("Insert Data");
    private NoPrintButton printFrame = new NoPrintButton("Print");
    private String[] labelNames =
            "Name", "Age", "Phone Number", "Sex"
    private String[] textValues =
            "John Smith", "55", "555-555-5555", "male"
    private JTextField[] dataFieldArr = new JTextField[labelNames.length];
    public PrintFrame(JFrame mainFrame) {
        super();
        this.mainFrame = mainFrame;
        final int BS = 10;
        setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(BS, BS, BS, BS));
        setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        add(createTextPane(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
        add(createButtonPane(), BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    private JPanel createButtonPane()
        JPanel btnPane = new JPanel();
        btnPane.add(insertData);
        btnPane.add(printFrame);
        insertData.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
        printFrame.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
        return btnPane;
    private JPanel createTextPane()
        int labelLength = 100;
        int labelHeight = 20;
        JPanel textPane = new JPanel();
        textPane.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1));
        for (int i = 0; i < dataFieldArr.length; i++)
            JPanel rowPane = new JPanel();
            JLabel myLabel = new JLabel(labelNames);
myLabel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(labelLength, labelHeight));
rowPane.add(myLabel);
dataFieldArr[i] = new JTextField(TF_SIZE);
rowPane.add(dataFieldArr[i]);
textPane.add(rowPane);
return textPane;
private void printPanel()
PrinterJob printJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
boolean doPrint = printJob.printDialog();
if (doPrint)
printJob.setPrintable(this);
try
printJob.print();
catch (PrinterException pe)
pe.printStackTrace();
public int print(Graphics g, PageFormat pf, int page)
throws PrinterException
if (page > 0)
return NO_SUCH_PAGE;
* User (0,0) is typically outside the imageable area, so we must
* translate by the X and Y values in the PageFormat to avoid clipping
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
g2d.translate(pf.getImageableX() + 30, pf.getImageableY() + 50);
mainFrame.printAll(g); // if you want to print the JPanel only, then delete "mainFrame." here
return PAGE_EXISTS;
private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
NoPrintButton myBtn = (NoPrintButton) ae.getSource();
if (myBtn == insertData)
for (int i = 0; i < dataFieldArr.length; i++)
dataFieldArr[i].setText(textValues[i]);
else if (myBtn == printFrame)
printPanel();
* This is nothing but a plain JButton with the print method overridden by
* a method that does nothing. This will prevent the button from being printed but
* leaves a blank space in the output where the button used to be.
* @author Pete
private class NoPrintButton extends JButton
public NoPrintButton(String text) {
super(text);
@Override
public void print(Graphics g)
// override print method with blank method
private static void createAndShowGUI()
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Print Frame Application");
frame.getContentPane().add(new PrintFrame(frame));
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
public static void main(String[] args)
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
public void run()
createAndShowGUI();
Edited by: petes1234 on Sep 17, 2007 5:36 PM