Printer

Since Camel 2.1

The printer component provides a way to direct payloads on a route to a printer. Obviously the payload has to be a formatted piece of payload in order for the component to appropriately print it. The objective is to be able to direct specific payloads as jobs to a line printer in a camel flow.

This component only supports a camel producer endpoint.

The functionality allows for the payload to be printed on a default printer, named local, remote or wirelessly linked printer using the javax printing API under the covers.

Maven users will need to add the following dependency to their pom.xml for this component:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
    <artifactId>camel-printer</artifactId>
    <version>x.x.x</version>
    <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
</dependency>

URI format

Since the URI scheme for a printer has not been standardized (the nearest thing to a standard being the IETF print standard) and therefore not uniformly applied by vendors, we have chosen "lpr" as the scheme.

lpr://localhost/default[?options]
lpr://remotehost:port/path/to/printer[?options]

You can append query options to the URI in the following format, ?option=value&option=value&…​

Options

The Printer component has no options.

The Printer endpoint is configured using URI syntax:

lpr:hostname:port/printername

with the following path and query parameters:

Path Parameters (3 parameters):

Name Description Default Type

hostname

Required Hostname of the printer

String

port

Port number of the printer

int

printername

Name of the printer

String

Query Parameters (11 parameters):

Name Description Default Type

copies (producer)

Number of copies to print

1

int

docFlavor (producer)

Sets DocFlavor to use.

DocFlavor

flavor (producer)

Sets DocFlavor to use.

String

mediaSize (producer)

Sets the stationary as defined by enumeration names in the javax.print.attribute.standard.MediaSizeName API. The default setting is to use North American Letter sized stationary. The value’s case is ignored, e.g. values of iso_a4 and ISO_A4 may be used.

na-letter

String

mediaTray (producer)

Sets MediaTray supported by the javax.print.DocFlavor API, for example upper,middle etc.

String

mimeType (producer)

Sets mimeTypes supported by the javax.print.DocFlavor API

String

orientation (producer)

Sets the page orientation.

portrait

String

printerPrefix (producer)

Sets the prefix name of the printer, it is useful when the printer name does not start with //hostname/printer

String

sendToPrinter (producer)

etting this option to false prevents sending of the print data to the printer

true

boolean

sides (producer)

Sets one sided or two sided printing based on the javax.print.attribute.standard.Sides API

one-sided

String

synchronous (advanced)

Sets whether synchronous processing should be strictly used, or Camel is allowed to use asynchronous processing (if supported).

false

boolean

Spring Boot Auto-Configuration

When using Spring Boot make sure to use the following Maven dependency to have support for auto configuration:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
  <artifactId>camel-printer-starter</artifactId>
  <version>x.x.x</version>
  <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
</dependency>

The component supports 2 options, which are listed below.

Name Description Default Type

camel.component.lpr.enabled

Enable lpr component

true

Boolean

camel.component.lpr.resolve-property-placeholders

Whether the component should resolve property placeholders on itself when starting. Only properties which are of String type can use property placeholders.

true

Boolean

Sending Messages to a Printer

Printer Producer

Sending data to the printer is very straightforward and involves creating a producer endpoint that can be sent message exchanges on in route.

Usage Samples

Example 1: Printing text based payloads on a Default printer using letter stationary and one-sided mode

RouteBuilder builder = new RouteBuilder() {
    public void configure() {
       from(file://inputdir/?delete=true)
       .to("lpr://localhost/default?copies=2"

           "&flavor=DocFlavor.INPUT_STREAM&"

           "&mimeType=AUTOSENSE"

           "&mediaSize=NA_LETTER"

           "&sides=one-sided")
    }};

Example 2: Printing GIF based payloads on a Remote printer using A4 stationary and one-sided mode

RouteBuilder builder = new RouteBuilder() {
    public void configure() {
       from(file://inputdir/?delete=true)
       .to("lpr://remotehost/sales/salesprinter"

           "?copies=2&sides=one-sided"

           "&mimeType=GIF&mediaSize=ISO_A4"

           "&flavor=DocFlavor.INPUT_STREAM")
   }};

Example 3: Printing JPEG based payloads on a Remote printer using Japanese Postcard stationary and one-sided mode

RouteBuilder builder = new RouteBuilder() {
    public void configure() {
       from(file://inputdir/?delete=true)
       .to("lpr://remotehost/sales/salesprinter"

           "?copies=2&sides=one-sided"

           "&mimeType=JPEG"

           "&mediaSize=JAPANESE_POSTCARD"

           "&flavor=DocFlavor.INPUT_STREAM")
    }};
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