Last updated on January 19, 2021 by Farhan Raza
Blog Home

Print PDF Files Programmatically using Java

Print PDF with Java Programmatically

Printing PDF documents is often a key function in different companies and organizations. You can easily print a PDF file programmatically using Java language. You can work with Aspose.PDF for Java API by configuring it in your environment. Let us walk through different PDF printing scenarios that are possible in your Java applications:

Print PDF File using Java

You can easily print a PDF file using Java code by following the steps below:

  1. Create PdfViewer object
  2. Load input PDF file
  3. Print the PDF file

The code snippet below shows how to print PDF files programmatically using Java:

//Create PdfViewer object
PdfViewer viewer = new PdfViewer();
//Open input PDF file
viewer.bindPdf(dataDir + "Test.pdf");
//Print PDF document
viewer.printDocument();
//Close PDF file
viewer.close();
view raw PrintPDF.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Printing Multiple PDF Documents using Java

Printing multiple files, or batch printing of PDF files is a simple process using Java language. You can print a number of PDF files by following the steps below:

  1. Initialize a list of String type
  2. Add multiple PDF files to Print
  3. Print PDF documents

The following code shows how to print multiple PDF files using Java language:

// Initialize a list of String type
List<String> files = new ArrayList<>();
// Add multiple files to be printed
files.add(dataDir + "First.pdf");
files.add(dataDir + "Second.pdf");
// Process each file to print
for (String file : files)
{
//Create PdfViewer object
PdfViewer viewer = new PdfViewer();
//Open input PDF file
viewer.bindPdf(file);
//Print PDF document
viewer.printDocument();
//Close PDF file
viewer.close();
}
view raw PrintMultiplePDF.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Print Specific Pages or Range of Pages using Java

The API gives you a lot of control while printing PDF files. You can work with different fields and methods while printing files, as per your requirements. For example, if you do not want to print all the pages of a PDF file and only a few pages. It could be some continuous page range like from Page Number 3 till Page Number 7, or these could be random pages like Page Number 1,5 and 6. You can cover both of the scenarios with the following steps:

  1. Initialize PdfViewer object
  2. Set attributes for printing
  3. Create objects for printer and page settings
  4. Specify if you want to print all pages, specific pages, or a continuous page range
  5. Print PDF document using the printer and page settings

The following code shows how to print specific pages or a range of pages in a PDF document with Java:

// Create PdfViewer object
PdfViewer viewer = new PdfViewer();
// Open input PDF file
viewer.bindPdf(dataDir + "test.pdf");
// Set attributes for printing
viewer.setAutoResize(true); // Print the file with adjusted size
viewer.setAutoRotate(true); // Print the file with adjusted rotation
viewer.setPrintPageDialog(false); // Do not produce the page number dialog when printing
// Create objects for printer and page settings and PrintDocument
PrintPageSettings pgs = new PrintPageSettings();
PdfPrinterSettings ps = new PdfPrinterSettings();
// Set printer name
ps.setPrinterName("Microsoft Print to PDF");
// ps.setPrintRange(2); // 0 = all pages; 1 = selection; 2 = some pages
// ps.setFromPage(1);
// ps.setToPage(2);
ps.setPrintRange(1); // 0 = all pages; 1 = selection; 2 = some pages
ps.setSelectedPages(new int[]{1, 3, 5});
// Print document using printer and page settings
viewer.printDocumentWithSettings(pgs, ps);
view raw PrintSpecificpages.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Print Secured PDF using Java

Sometimes PDF files are secured or encrypted with passwords in order to ensure authorized access to the data. You can easily access and print the secured or encrypted PDF file using Java code and print the file as per your requirements. You need to follow the steps below:

  1. Load password-protected PDF input file with the password
  2. Initialize PdfViewer object
  3. Print the PDF document

The code below is based on these steps which explains how to print the secured PDF files using Java code:

//Load secure PDF document while specifying User or Owner password
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "Password.pdf" , "userORowner");
//Create PdfViewer object
PdfViewer viewer = new PdfViewer();
//Open input PDF file
viewer.bindPdf(document);
//Print PDF document
viewer.printDocument();
//Close PDF file
viewer.close();
view raw PrintSecuredPDF.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Check Status of Print Task while Printing PDF using Java

You can keep an eye on status of print job after the file is sent to printing queue of the printer. This lets your application decide whether the print has been successful or not. PdfViewer class exposes the method getPrintStatus which helps you to check the status of print job. For example, while printing a PDF to XPS format, you can get the status by following the steps below:

  1. Load input PDF file
  2. Set attributes for printing
  3. Create objects for printer and page settings
  4. Set printer name
  5. Print the output to file
  6. Check the print status

The following code shows how to check status of print task during PDF printing using Java code:

// Create PdfViewer object
PdfViewer viewer = new PdfViewer();
// Open input PDF file
viewer.bindPdf(dataDir + "test.pdf");
// Set attributes for printing
viewer.setAutoResize(true); // Print the file with adjusted size
viewer.setAutoRotate(true); // Print the file with adjusted rotation
viewer.setPrintPageDialog(false); // Do not produce the page number dialog when printing
// Create objects for printer and page settings and PrintDocument
PrintPageSettings pgs = new PrintPageSettings();
PdfPrinterSettings ps = new PdfPrinterSettings();
// Set printer name
ps.setPrinterName("Microsoft Print to PDF");
// Resultant Printout name
ps.setPrintFileName(dataDir + "ResultantPrintout.xps");
// Print the output to file
ps.setPrintToFile(true);
// Print the document with settings specified above
viewer.printDocumentWithSettings(pgs, ps);
// Check the print status
if (viewer.getPrintStatus() != null)
{
// An exception was thrown
Exception ex = (Exception)viewer.getPrintStatus();
if (ex != null)
{
// Get exception message
}
}
else
{
// No errors were found. Printing job has completed successfully
System.out.println("printing completed without any issue..");
}
view raw PrintingStatus.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Conclusion

We have explored different scenarios related to the printing of PDF files in your Java applications. You can easily integrate these features into your web applications, console applications, or any other type of project you are working with, using Java language. You can explore further the API by learning from API references or Product Documentation. There are a lot more possible scenarios related to PDF printing and you can freely discuss with us via Free Support Forum. We will be glad to help!

See Also

Print PDF Files using C# or VB.NET

This entry was posted in Aspose.PDF Product Family and tagged , , , , . .