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How to Print a PDF Document in Java

Learn about PDF printing in Java.

By Lokesh Vardhan Yadav

The PDF printer component in Gnostice PDFOne (for the Java™ platform) was introduced in February 2008 with Version 2.0. Since then, the printer component has seen several improvements. In this article, we will see a code snippet that shows you how to leverage many of those enhancements.

To print a PDF document:

1. Create a printer object
2. Set a PdfDocument object of a loaded PDF document to the printer object.
3. Select a physical printer for use with the printer object.
4. Set printer properties. (Perform this step after selecting the physical printer. Only then will you be able to override loaded defaults of the physical printer.)
5. Display the built-in "Print" dialog.

import javax.print.attribute.standard.MediaTray;
import javax.print.attribute.standard.SheetCollate;
import javax.print.attribute.standard.Sides;

import com.gnostice.pdfone.PDFOne;
import com.gnostice.pdfone.PdfDocument;
import com.gnostice.pdfone.PdfPageSize;
import com.gnostice.pdfone.PdfPrinter;
import com.gnostice.pdfone.PdfReader;

public class PDFOne_PdfPrinter_Demo {
   static {
      PDFOne.activate("T95VZE:W8HBPVA:74VQ8QV:LO4V8",
                      "9B1HRZAP:X5853ERNE:5EREMEGRQ:TX1R10");
   }

   public static void main(String[] args) {
    
     // Create a PDF reader object
     PdfReader reader = null;
    
     try {
         
        // Specify file that needs to be printed  
        reader = PdfReader.fileReader("sample_doc.pdf");
      
        // Create a PDF document object with the reader
        PdfDocument d = new PdfDocument(reader);
      
        // Create a PDF printer object
        PdfPrinter printer = new PdfPrinter();

        // Specify the document that needs to be printed
        printer.setDocument(d);        

        // Select a printer
        printer.setSelectedPrinterName(
           // Name of first printer 
           printer.getAvailablePrinterNames()[0]);
                  
        // Set margins
        printer.setPageMargins(
           // Left, top, right, bottom margins
           new double[] {1, 0.5, 1, 0.5}, 
           // Measurement units
           PdfPrinter.MU_INCHES);                

        // Specify page size
        printer.setPageSize(PdfPageSize.A4);
        // Specify page orientation
        printer.setOrientation(PdfPrinter.Orientation_LANDSCAPE);
        // Specify pages that need to be printed
        printer.setPageRange("1-8");
        // Specify number of copies
        printer.setCopies(3);
        // Specify scaling
        printer.setPageScale(PdfPrinter.SCALE_REDUCE_TO_PRINTER_MARGINS);
        // Specify how page of different copies need to be collated
        printer.setPrintSheetCollate(SheetCollate.COLLATED);
        // Specify paper bin
        printer.setPrintMediaTray(MediaTray.SIDE);
        // Specify printing order
        printer.setReverse(true);
        // Specify which sides of paper need to be printed on
        printer.setPrintSides(Sides.TWO_SIDED_SHORT_EDGE);
        
        // Show printer dialog to user
        printer.showPrintDialog();        
     }
     catch (Exception ex1) {        
        System.out.println(ex1.getMessage());        
     } finally {
        if (reader != null) {
           try {
              // Release I/O resources
              reader.dispose();   
           } catch (Exception ex2) {
              System.out.println(ex2.getMessage());
           }
        }
     }
  }
}

With the "Print" dialog, the actual print command is given by the user. For non-interactive or fully programmatic printing, you can use the PdfPrinter.print(String pageRange, int numOfCopies) method.