Printing image with mask in Adobe Air

Question

I have createad an application for framed photos.This application creates a Canvas which can hold several framed photos. Following is the code of the framed photo:
<mx:Canvas id="imageContainer" horizontalScrollPolicy="off" verticalScrollPolicy="off" clipContent="false">
        <mx:Image id="image_img" source="app:/image.jpg" maintainAspectRatio="false" width="500" height="500" cacheAsBitmap="true"/>
        <mx:Image id="mask_img" source="app:/mask.png" maintainAspectRatio="false" width="300" height="300" cacheAsBitmap="true"/>
        <mx:Image id="frame_img" source="app:/frame.png" maintainAspectRatio="false" width="300" height="300" cacheAsBitmap="true"/>
</mx:Canvas>
when these are loaded, I use:
image_img.mask = mask_img;
to apply the mask on the image. this looks fine on the screen, but when I try to print it the mask is not applied!
Actually I have found two ways to do this. The first is to add the Canvas directly to a print job:
     var printOption:PrintJobOptions = new PrintJobOptions();
     printOption.printAsBitmap = true;
     myPrintJob.addPage(frameContainer, null, printOption);
     myPrintJob.send();
this has a very good print quality but the masks do not work.
the second way is to take a "screenshot" in a bitmap and print that:
     var previewBD:BitmapData = new BitmapData( frameCanvas.width, frameCanvas.height, false );
     previewBD.draw( frameCanvas, null, null, null, null, true );
     var b:Bitmap = new Bitmap;
     b.bitmapData = previewBD;
     var s:Sprite = new Sprite;
     s.addChild(b);
     myPrintJob.addPage(s, null, printOption);
in this case the mask works but the print quality drops drastically!
is there any way to print with good quality AND having the mask?
is this a bug of AIR or am I missing something?

Answer 1

here is the full code of the PhotoFrame file. (the mxml of which I sent in my first post)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Canvas xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" creationComplete="init( )"
    horizontalScrollPolicy="off" verticalScrollPolicy="off" clipContent="false">
    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.controls.*;
             * Initialize
            private function init( ) : void
                image_img.mask = mask_img;
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>
    <mx:Canvas id="imageContainer" horizontalScrollPolicy="off" verticalScrollPolicy="off" clipContent="false">
        <mx:Image id="image_img" source="app:/image.jpg" maintainAspectRatio="false" width="500" height="500" cacheAsBitmap="true"/>
        <mx:Image id="mask_img" source="app:/mask.png" maintainAspectRatio="false" width="300" height="300" cacheAsBitmap="true"/>
        <mx:Image id="frame_img" source="app:/frame.png" maintainAspectRatio="false" width="300" height="300" cacheAsBitmap="true"/>
    </mx:Canvas>
</mx:Canvas>
and this is the full code of the main application file. in the printing I have commented out the bitmap printing part which has low quality.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:WindowedApplication
    xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
    layout="absolute" showFlexChrome="false" visible="true"
    applicationComplete="init( )"
    horizontalScrollPolicy="off" verticalScrollPolicy="off"
    usePreloader="false" >
    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.controls.*;
            private function init( ) : void
                nativeWindow.maximize( );
                var newFrame:PhotoFrame = new PhotoFrame( );
                frameCanvas.addChild( newFrame );
            private function printMe( ) : void
                var myPrintJob:PrintJob = new flash.printing.PrintJob;
                if(myPrintJob.start()) {
                    // Create the options
                    var printOption:PrintJobOptions = new PrintJobOptions();
                    printOption.printAsBitmap = true;
                    try {
                        // This has a mask but prints in low quality
/*                        var previewBD:BitmapData = new BitmapData( frameCanvas.width, frameCanvas.height, false );
                        previewBD.draw( frameCanvas, null, null, null, null, true );
                        var b:Bitmap = new Bitmap;
                        b.bitmapData = previewBD;
                        var s:Sprite = new Sprite;
                        s.addChild(b);
                        myPrintJob.addPage(s, null, printOption);
                        // This prints in desired quality but the mask does not work.
                        myPrintJob.addPage(frameCanvas, null, printOption);
                    catch(e:Error) {
                        Alert.show("Printing canceled");
                    myPrintJob.send();
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>
    <!--Frame Canvas-->
    <mx:Canvas id="frameCanvas" width="100%" height="100%" horizontalScrollPolicy="off" verticalScrollPolicy="off" backgroundColor="#FFFFFF" backgroundAlpha="0.01" />
    <mx:Button top="400" left="200" label="Print" click="printMe()"/>
</mx:WindowedApplication>
Note: I also tried printing the newFrame directly instead of the frameCanvas, but the mask is still missing.
finally I attach the three images used so that you can have the full project.