JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

javax.print
Class StreamPrintServiceFactory

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--javax.print.StreamPrintServiceFactory

public abstract class StreamPrintServiceFactory
extends Object

A StreamPrintServiceFactory is the factory for StreamPrintService instances, which can print to an output stream in a particular document format described as a mime type. A typical output document format may be Postscript(TM).

This class is implemented by a service and located by the implementation using the SPI JAR File specification.

Applications locate instances of this class by calling the lookupStreamPrintServiceFactories(DocFlavor, String) method.

Applications can use a StreamPrintService obtained from a factory in place of a PrintService which represents a physical printer device.


Constructor Summary
StreamPrintServiceFactory()
           
 
Method Summary
abstract  String getOutputFormat()
          Queries the factory for the document format that is emitted by printers obtained from this factory.
abstract  StreamPrintService getPrintService(OutputStream out)
          Returns a StreamPrintService that can print to the specified output stream.
abstract  DocFlavor[] getSupportedDocFlavors()
          Queries the factory for the document flavors that can be accepted by printers obtained from this factory.
static StreamPrintServiceFactory[] lookupStreamPrintServiceFactories(DocFlavor flavor, String outputMimeType)
          Locates factories for print services that can be used with a print job to output a stream of data in the format specified by flavor.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

StreamPrintServiceFactory

public StreamPrintServiceFactory()
Method Detail

lookupStreamPrintServiceFactories

public static StreamPrintServiceFactory[] lookupStreamPrintServiceFactories(DocFlavor flavor,
                                                                            String outputMimeType)
Locates factories for print services that can be used with a print job to output a stream of data in the format specified by flavor. For example, the doc flavor is the document type that you want to create, not the flavor of the document before printing.

Although null is an acceptable value to use in the lookup of stream printing services, it's typical to search for a particular desired format, such as Postscript(TM).

Parameters:
flavor - of the input document type - null means match all types.
outputMimeType - representing the required output format, used to identify suitable stream printer factories. A value of null means match all formats.
Returns:
- matching factories for stream print service instance, empty if no suitable factories could be located.

getOutputFormat

public abstract String getOutputFormat()
Queries the factory for the document format that is emitted by printers obtained from this factory.

Returns:
the output format described as a mime type.

getSupportedDocFlavors

public abstract DocFlavor[] getSupportedDocFlavors()
Queries the factory for the document flavors that can be accepted by printers obtained from this factory.

Returns:
array of supported doc flavors.

getPrintService

public abstract StreamPrintService getPrintService(OutputStream out)
Returns a StreamPrintService that can print to the specified output stream. The output stream is created and managed by the application. It is the application's responsibility to close the stream and to ensure that this Printer is not reused. The application should not close this stream until any print job created from the printer is complete. Doing so earlier may generate a PrinterException and an event indicating that the job failed.

Whereas a PrintService connected to a physical printer can be reused, a StreamPrintService connected to a stream cannot. The underlying StreamPrintService may be disposed by the print system with the dispose method before returning from the print method of DocPrintJob so that the print system knows this printer is no longer usable. This is equivalent to a physical printer going offline - permanently. Applications may supply a null print stream to create a queryable service. It is not valid to create a PrintJob for such a stream. Implementations which allocate resources on construction should examine the stream and may wish to only allocate resources if the stream is non-null.

Parameters:
out - destination stream for generated output.
Returns:
a PrintService which will generate the format specified by the DocFlavor supported by this Factory.

JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.1

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java 2 SDK SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.