Paperclips FAQ

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Q: Why does PaperClips throw an exception when I try to print?

A: This happens whenever you're trying to print something that's too big to fit on paper the way you've designed it. This occurs most commonly with GridPrints with preferred width columns, instead of default width. Some options:

• Look through your GridPrint constructor calls and make sure you set up your columns using "d", "def", or "default" size instead of "p", "pref", or "preferred" size. Default size columns are the same as preferred, but will shrink down to their minimum size if there's not enough room on paper. A preferred column will not shrink, which is a problem when you put a TextPrint into that column that has a really, really long string with no line breaks.
• Wrap the offending Print in a BigPrint, which breaks really huge prints across pages.
• Wrap the offending Print in a ScalePrint, which automatically scales a print down to fit on the page.

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Q: How do I show the printer dialog?

A: Assuming the following variables, you can show the print dialog (and then print if the user chooses to) as follows:

• Shell shell
• Print print
• String jobName
• int margin (expressed in points, where 72 points = 1")

PrintDialog dialog = new PrintDialog(shell, SWT.NONE); 
PrinterData printerData = dialog.open (); 
if (printerData != null) { 
 PrintJob job = new PrintJob(jobName, print).setMargins(margins); 
 PaperClips.print(job, printerData); 
}

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Q: Does PaperClips work on Linux?

A: Theoretically PaperClips works everywhere that SWT does.

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Q: Does PaperClips support the TableWrapLayout from the org.eclipse.ui.forms package?

A: Use the GridPrint, it is very similar to a TableWrapLayout (both adhere to the W3C recommendations on layout rendering).

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Q: Is it possible to change the color of a Font?

A: Yes: TextPrint

textPrint = new TextPrint( "My white sentence" ); 
textPrint.setRGB( new RGB( 255, 255, 255 ) );

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Q: How do I print a headercell with a dark background that fills up the entire page width?

A1: Create a GridPrint that has its first column set to be greedy on its width: GridPrint grid = new GridPrint( "p:g"); And use the following method to create a header: ``` private GridPrint createHeader( String text ) { DefaultGridLook headerLook = new DefaultGridLook(); LineBorder lineBorder = new LineBorder(); headerLook.setCellBorder(lineBorder); headerLook.setBodyBackground(new RGB (200, 200, 200));

GridPrint gridHeader = new GridPrint("p:g", headerLook); gridHeader.add( new TextPrint( text, GridPrint.REMAINDER ) ); return gridHeader; } ``` Now add the header to your gridprint: grid.add( createHeader( "MyHeader" ), GridPrint.REMAINDER ); * The use of preferred size columns is discouraged in the absence of a specific need for it. You are almost always better off with a default size column. -- MatthewHall

A2: If you're trying to add repeating headers to a GridPrint, use the addHeader(...) methods. DefaultGridLook has separate background color properties for the header, body, and footer: ``` DefaultGridLook look = new DefaultGridLook(); look.setHeaderBackground(new RGB(0x40, 0x40, 0x40)); // dark gray

GridPrint grid = new GridPrint("d, d:g, d", look); // <--- you can pass the GridLook in to the GridPrint constructor. grid.addHeader(new TextPrint("the header row gets printed on every page!"), GridPrint.REMAINDER);

for (Item item : itemsToPrint) { grid.add(new TextPrint(item.toString())); // etc.. } ```

A3: Another way to add a header is to use a PagePrint. PagePrint adds headers and/or footers to every page of a document, with the capability to print page numbers. See Snippet6 on the [Snippets] topic for sample code.

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Q: How do you install this as a plugin inside of eclipse? (i.e. what steps are required). Following proper installation, how do you use it from within eclipse? (i.e is there a menu somewhere to set line numbers, etc?).

A: You have to install Nebula's org.eclipse.nebula.widgets.paperclips feature.

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Q: Why isn't PaperClips spelled with a trailing 'e' (PaperClips*e**) like other Eclipse plugins?**

A: Basically I thought that would have been just slightly too trendy. Open-source project naming in general is starting to get trendy and elitist. Recursive acronyms are a perfect example (e.g. "GNU's Not Unix"); they were mildly funny at first, but it's been done to death. PaperClips seemed to have just the right ring, vaguely conveying the project's purpose, but without feeling like an Eclipse fanboy. -- Matthew Hall

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Q: My print job is taking a really long time to print. What do I do?

A: A possible reason is that you are rotating image content. I've had reports of slow printing when printing very large images and using either a RotatePrint, or setting PrintJob.setOrientation.

I've had one user who reported that rotating the ImageData by hand (and then not wrapping the ImagePrint in a RotatePrint) resulted in a dramatic speed improvement for his print job.