printing - Print to specific printer (IPP URI) in Java

Question

Is there any way in Java to print to a specific IPP printer? All of the sample code and tutorials I've found focus on how to print a particular type of document, using something like the following:

DocFlavor flavor = DocFlavor.INPUT_STREAM.POSTSCRIPT;
PrintRequestAttributeSet aset = new HashPrintRequestAttributeSet();
aset.add(MediaSizeName.ISO_A4);
PrintService[] pservices =
             PrintServiceLookup.lookupPrintServices(flavor, aset);
if (pservices.length > 0) {
    DocPrintJob pj = pservices[0].createPrintJob();
    try {
        FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("test.ps");
        Doc doc = new SimpleDoc(fis, flavor, null);
        pj.print(doc, aset);
    } catch (FileNotFoundException fe) {
    } catch (PrintException e) { 
    }
}

This snippet simply prints to the first printer found that is capable of printing the document. In my case, I want to lookup a printer by its URI, but PrintServiceLookup doesn't seem to support this. I've tried using a PrintServiceAttributeSet, instead of PrintRequestAttributeSet, and adding a PrinterURI attribute, but that doesn't return any printers. I suspect the lookup service is looking for a printer that can change its destination URI, rather than looking for the printer with that URI.

As a last resort, I thought about just enumerating through all of the PrintServices returned by lookupPrintServices, but the URI is not in any of the attributes. The printer name is there, but I need the URI.

For background, my webapp needs to print a barcode to a specific printer, based on the current user. Each user is associated with a printer URI, which points to a printer on a CUPS server. The printer URI is the only information I have, and I can't constrain the printer name to match the URI or a substring of the URI.

Edit: To clarify a bit, I don't need to render the data, I just need to copy a blob to a given printer. The part I can't figure out is how to identify a printer by its IPP URI.

Answer 1

I finally found a way to do this, by using jipsi:

URI printerURI = new URI("ipp://SERVER:631/printers/PRINTER_NAME");
IppPrintService svc = new IppPrintService(printerURI);
InputStream stream = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream("image.epl"));
DocFlavor flavor = DocFlavor.INPUT_STREAM.AUTOSENSE;
Doc myDoc = new SimpleDoc(stream, flavor, null);
DocPrintJob job = svc.createPrintJob();
job.print(myDoc, null);

I have to admit I'm disappointed at having to use a 3rd-party library to do something so seemingly simple as printing to a specific printer.

UPDATE

DR points out in the comments that jipsi has a new home, and a new name.

Cups4J is a nice alternative, but as the name implies it may not work correctly if the destination is not a CUPS server. I have had good results using Cups4J to print directly to a Zebra thermal printer.