Attributes

When sending print data to a printer, a client also provides instructions on how to print the data, such as: what media (paper) to use and how many copies to print. The client specifies these processing instructions using the attribute definitions of the Java^TM Print Service API.

The Java Print Service API includes two packages that define attributes: javax.print.attribute and javax.print.attribute.standard. The javax.print.attribute package contains the interfaces and classes that describe the types of attributes and how they are collected into sets. The javax.print.attribute.standard package enumerates all of the standard attributes in the API. Most of the attribute definitions in the JPS API are implementations of the standard and extensible attributes defined by the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Specification from the IETF.

This chapter describes the attribute definitions of the JPS API in more detail.The Attribute Categories and Values section explains what an attribute is according to the JPS. The Attribute Roles section describes the type of attributes. The Attribute Sets section describes how the attributes are collected into sets. The Standard Attributes section describes some of the more-commonly used attributes defined in the javax.attribute.standard package.