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/**
* Provides classes and interfaces that describe the types of Java™ Print
* Service attributes and how they can be collected into attribute sets.
*
* <h3>What is an Attribute?</h3>
* When setting up a print job, a client specifies two things: <b>print data</b>
* and <b>processing instructions.</b> The print data is the actual content to
* be printed. The processing instructions tell the printer how to print the
* print data, such as: what media to use, how many copies to print, and whether
* to print on one or both sides of a sheet. The client specifies these
* processing instructions with the attribute definitions of the Java Print
* Service API.
* <p>
* The print data and the processing instructions are separate entities. This
* means that:
* <ul>
* <li>You can print the same print data at different times using different
* processing instructions.
* <br>
* For example, you can print a slide presentation on US letter-sized white
* paper, double-sided, stapled, 20 copies to make handouts for a talk; and
* you could print the same slide presentation on US letter-sized
* transparencies, single-sided, one copy to make the actual slides for the
* talk.
* <li>You can use the same processing instructions at different times to
* print different data. For example, you could set your default processing
* instructions to: US letter-sized paper, double sided, stapled. Whenever you
* print a job, it prints with these settings, unless you explicitly override
* them.
* </ul>
* The processing instruction does not specify how the print job processes the
* request; each processing instruction is only a description of the results of
* a print job. The print job determines the manner in which it achieves the
* results specified by the processing instructions. Representing processing
* instructions as descriptive items provides more flexibility for implementing
* print jobs.
*
* <h4>Attribute Categories and Values</h4>
* Each printer has a set of capabilities, such as the ability to print on
* different paper sizes or the ability to print more than one copy. Each of the
* capabilities has a range of values. For example, a printer's orientation
* capability might have this range of values: [landscape, portrait]. For each
* print request, the capability is set to one of these values. The Java Print
* Service API uses the term <b>attribute category</b> to refer to a printer
* capability and the term <b>attribute value</b> to refer to the value of the
* capability.
* <p>
* In the Java Print Service API, an attribute category is represented by a Java
* class implementing the <a href="Attribute.html">Attribute</a> interface.
* Attribute values are instances of such a class or one of its subclasses. For
* example, to specify the number of copies, an application constructs an
* instance of the <a href="standard/Copies.html">Copies</a> class with the
* number of desired copies and uses the {@code Copies} instance as part of the
* print request. In this case, the {@code Copies} class represents the
* attribute category, and the {@code Copies} instance represents the attribute
* value.
*
* <h4><a id="role"></a>Attribute Roles</h4>
* When submitting a print job to a printer, the client provides the attributes
* describing the characteristics of the print data, such as the document name,
* and how the print data should be printed, such as double-sided, five copies.
* If a print job consists of multiple pieces of print data, different pieces
* might have different processing instructions, such as 8 x 11 inch media for
* the first document, and 11 x 17 inch media for another document.
* <p>
* Once the printer starts processing the print job, additional information
* about the job becomes available, which might include: the job state (such as
* <i>completed</i> or <i>queued</i>) and the number of pages printed so far.
* These pieces of information are also attributes. Attributes can also describe
* the printer itself, such as: the printer name, the printer location, and the
* number of jobs queued.
* <p>
* The Java Print Service API defines these different kinds of attributes with
* five subinterfaces of {@code Attribute}:
* <ul>
* <li><a href="DocAttribute.html">DocAttribute</a> specifies a characteristic
* of an individual document and the print job settings to be applied to an
* individual document.
* <li><a href="PrintRequestAttribute.html">PrintRequestAttribute</a>
* specifies a setting applied to a whole print job and to all the documents
* in the print job.
* <li><a href="PrintJobAttribute.html">PrintJobAttribute</a> reports the
* status of a print job.
* <li><a href="PrintServiceAttribute.html">PrintServiceAttribute</a> reports
* the status of a print service.
* <li><a href="SupportedValuesAttribute.html">SupportedValuesAttribute</a>
* gives the supported values for another attribute.
* </ul>
* Each attribute class implements one or more of these tagging subinterfaces to
* indicate where the attribute can be used in the API. If an attribute class
* implements multiple tagging subinterfaces, the attribute can be used in
* multiple contexts. For example, the media attribute can apply to one document
* in a print job as a {@code DocAttribute} or to an entire print job as a
* {@code PrintRequestAttribute}. Certain low-level attributes are never used on
* their own but are always aggregated into higher-level attributes. These
* low-level attribute classes only implement interface
* <a href="Attribute.html">Attribute</a>, not any of the tagging subinterfaces.
* <p>
* The Java Print Service API defines a group of standard attribute classes
* modeled upon the attributes in the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) version
* 1.1. The standard attribute classes are in the subpackage
* {@code javax.print.attribute.standard} to keep the actual attribute classes
* conceptually separate from the generic apparatus defined in package
* {@code javax.print.attribute}.
*
* <h3>Attribute Sets</h3>
* A client usually needs to provide more than one processing instruction when
* submitting a print job. For example, the client might need to specify a media
* size of A4 and a landscape orientation. To send more than one processing
* instruction, the client collects the attributes into an attribute set, which
* the Java Print Service API represents with the
* <a href="AttributeSet.html">AttributeSet</a> interface.
* <p>
* The {@code AttributeSet} interface is similar to the
* <a href="../../../java/util/Map.html">Map</a> interface: it provides a map of
* key to values, in which each key is unique and can contain no more than one
* value. However, the {@code AttributeSet} interface is designed to
* specifically support the needs of the Java Print Service API. An
* {@code AttributeSet} requires that:
* <ol type=1>
* <li>Each key in an {@code AttributeSet} corresponds to a category, and the
* value of the key can only be one of the attribute values that belong to the
* category represented by the key. Thus, unlike a {@code Map}, an
* {@code AttributeSet} restricts the possible values of a key: an attribute
* category cannot be set to an attribute value that does not belong to that
* category.
* <li>No two attributes from the same category can exist in the same set. For
* example, an attribute collection must not contain both a "one-sided"
* attribute and a "two-sided" attribute because these two attributes give the
* printer conflicting instructions.
* <li>Only attributes implementing the {@code Attribute} interface can be
* added to the set.
* </ol>
* The {@code javax.print.attribute} package includes
* <a href="HashAttributeSet.html">HashAttributeSet</a> as a concrete
* implementation of the attribute set interface. {@code HashAttributeSet}
* provides an attribute set based on a hash map. You can use this
* implementation or provide your own implementation of interface
* {@code AttributeSet}.
* <p>
* The Java Print Service API provides four specializations of an attribute set
* that are restricted to contain just one of the four kinds of attributes, as
* discussed in the <a href="#role">Attribute Roles</a> section:
* <ul>
* <li><a href="DocAttributeSet.html">DocAttributeSet</a>
* <li><a href="PrintRequestAttributeSet.html">PrintRequestAttributeSet</a>
* <li><a href="PrintJobAttributeSet.html"> PrintJobAttributeSet</a>
* <li><a href="PrintServiceAttributeSet.html">PrintServiceAttributeSet</a>
* </ul>
* Notice that only four kinds of attribute sets are listed here, but there are
* five kinds of attributes. Interface
* <a href="SupportedValuesAttribute.html">SupportedValuesAttribute</a> denotes
* an attribute that gives the supported values for another attribute.
* Supported-values attributes are never aggregated into attribute sets, so
* there is no attribute set subinterface defined for them.
* <p>
* In some contexts, an attribute set is read-only, which means that the client
* is only allowed to examine an attribute set's contents but not change them.
* In other contexts, the attribute set is read-write, which means that the
* client is allowed both to examine and to change an attribute set's contents.
* For a read-only attribute set, calling a mutating operation throws an
* {@code UnmodifiableSetException}.
* <p>
* Package {@code javax.print.attribute} includes one concrete implementation of
* each of the attribute set subinterfaces:
* <ul>
* <li><a href="HashDocAttributeSet.html"> HashDocAttributeSet</a>
* <li><a href="HashPrintRequestAttributeSet.html">
* HashPrintRequestAttributeSet</a>,
* <li><a href="HashPrintJobAttributeSet.html">HashPrintJobAttributeSet</a>,
* <li><a href="HashPrintServiceAttributeSet.html">
* HashPrintServiceAttributeSet</a>.
* </ul>
* All of these classes extend
* <a href="HashAttributeSet.html">HashAttributeSet</a> and enforce the
* restriction that the attribute set is only allowed to contain the
* corresponding kind of attribute.
*
* <h3>Attribute Class Design</h3>
* An attribute value is a small, atomic data item, such as an integer or an
* enumerated value. The Java Print Service API does not use primitive data
* types, such as int, to represent attribute values for these reasons:
* <ul>
* <li>Primitive data types are not type-safe. For example, a compiler should
* not allow a "copies" attribute value to be used for a "sides" attribute.
* <li>Some attributes must be represented as a record of several values. One
* example is printer resolution, which requires two numbers, such as 600 and
* 300 representing 600 x 300 dpi.
* </ul>
* For type-safety and to represent all attributes uniformly, the Java Print
* Service API defines each attribute category as a class, such as class
* {@code Copies}, class <a href="standard/Sides.html">Sides</a>, and class
* <a href="standard/PrinterResolution.html">PrinterResolution</a>. Each
* attribute class wraps one or more primitive data items containing the
* attribute's value. Attribute set operations perform frequent comparisons
* between attribute category objects when adding attributes, finding existing
* attributes in the same category, and looking up an attribute given its
* category. Because an attribute category is represented by a class, fast
* attribute-value comparisons can be performed with the {@code Class.equals}
* method.
* <p>
* Even though the Java Print Service API includes a large number of different
* attribute categories, there are only a few different types of attribute
* values. Most attributes can be represented by a small number of data types,
* such as: integer values, integer ranges, text, or an enumeration of integer
* values. The type of the attribute value that a category accepts is called the
* attribute's abstract syntax. To provide consistency and reduce code
* duplication, the Java Print Service API defines abstract syntax classes to
* represent each abstract syntax, and these classes are used as the parent of
* standard attributes whenever possible. The abstract syntax classes are:
* <ul>
* <li><a href="EnumSyntax.html">EnumSyntax</a> provides a type-safe
* enumeration in which enumerated values are represented as singleton
* objects. Each enumeration singleton is an instance of the enumeration class
* that wraps a hidden int value.
* <li><a href="IntegerSyntax.html">IntegerSyntax</a> is the abstract syntax
* for integer-valued attributes.
* <li><a href="TextSyntax.html">TextSyntax</a> is the abstract syntax for
* text-valued attributes, and includes a locale giving the text string's
* natural language.
* <li><a href="SetOfIntegerSyntax.html">SetOfIntegerSyntax</a> is the
* abstract syntax for attributes representing a range or set of integers
* <li><a href="ResolutionSyntax.html">ResolutionSyntax</a> is the abstract
* syntax for attributes representing resolution values, such as 600x300
* dpi.
* <li><a href="Size2DSyntax.html">Size2DSyntax</a> is the abstract syntax for
* attributes representing a two-dimensional size, such as a paper size of
* 8.5 x 11 inches.
* <li><a href="DateTimeSyntax.html">DateTimeSyntax</a> is the abstract syntax
* for attributes whose value is a date and time.
* <li><a href="URISyntax.html">URISyntax</a> is the abstract syntax for
* attributes whose value is a Uniform Resource Indicator.
* </ul>
* The abstract syntax classes are independent of the attributes that use them.
* In fact, applications that have nothing to do with printing can use the
* abstract syntax classes. Although most of the standard attribute classes
* extend one of the abstract syntax classes, no attribute class is required to
* extend one of these classes. The abstract syntax classes merely provide a
* convenient implementation that can be shared by many attribute classes.
* <p>
* Each attribute class implements the {@code Attribute} interface, either
* directly or indirectly, to mark it as a printing attribute. An attribute
* class that can appear in restricted attribute sets in certain contexts also
* implements one or more subinterfaces of {@code Attribute}. Most attribute
* classes also extend the appropriate abstract syntax class to get the
* implementation. Consider the {@code Sides} attribute class:
* <blockquote>
* <pre>{@code
* public class Sides
* extends EnumSyntax
* implements DocAttribute, PrintRequestAttribute, PrintJobAttribute
* {
* public final Object getCategory()
* {
* return Sides.class;
* }
* ...
* }}
* </pre>
* </blockquote>
* <p>
* Since every attribute class implements {@code Attribute}, every attribute
* class must provide an implementation for the
* {@link javax.print.attribute.Attribute#getCategory() getCategory} method,
* which returns the attribute category. In the case of {@code Sides}, the
* {@code getCategory} method returns {@code Sides.class}. The
* {@code getCategory} method is final to ensure that any vendor-defined
* subclasses of a standard attribute class appear in the same category. Every
* attribute object is immutable once constructed so that attribute object
* references can be passed around freely. To get a different attribute value,
* construct a different attribute object.
*
* <h3>Attribute Vendors</h3>
* The Java Print Service API is designed so that vendors can:
* <ul>
* <li>define new vendor-specific values for any standard attribute defined in
* <a href="standard/package-summary.html">javax.print.attribute.standard</a>.
* <li>define new attribute categories representing the vendor printer's
* proprietary capabilities not already supported by the standard attributes.
* </ul>
* To define a new value for an attribute, a client can construct instances of
* such attributes with arbitrary values at runtime. However, an enumerated
* attribute using an abstract syntax class of {@code EnumSyntax} specifies all
* the possible attribute values at compile time as singleton instances of the
* attribute class. This means that new enumerated values cannot be constructed
* at run time. To define new vendor-specific values for a standard enumerated
* attribute, the vendor must define a new attribute class specifying the new
* singleton instances. To ensure that the new attribute values fall in the same
* category as the standard attribute values, the new attribute class must be a
* subclass of the standard attribute class.
* <p>
* To define a new attribute category, a vendor defines a new attribute class.
* This attribute class, like the standard attribute classes, implements
* {@code Attribute} or one of its subinterfaces and extends an abstract syntax
* class. The vendor can either use an existing abstract syntax class or define
* a new one. The new vendor-defined attribute can be used wherever an
* {@code Attribute} is used, such as in an {@code AttributeSet}.
*
* <h3>Using Attributes</h3>
* A typical printing application uses the {@code PrintRequestAttributeSet}
* because print-request attributes are the types of attributes that client
* usually specifies. This example demonstrates creating an attribute set of
* print-request attributes and locating a printer that can print the document
* according to the specified attributes:
* <blockquote>
* <pre>{@code
* FileInputStream psStream;
* try {
* psstream = new FileInputStream("file.ps");
* } catch (FileNotFoundException ffne) {
* }
* if (psstream == null) {
* return;
* }
* //Set the document type. See the DocFlavor documentation for
* //more information.
* DocFlavor psInFormat = DocFlavor.INPUT_STREAM.POSTSCRIPT;
* Doc myDoc = new SimpleDoc(pstream, psInFormat, null);
* PrintRequestAttributeSet aset = new HashPrintRequestAttributeSet();
* aset.add(new Copies(5));
* aset.add(MediaSize.A4);
* aset.add(Sides.DUPLEX);
* PrintService[] services =
* PrintServiceLookup.lookupPrintServices(psInFormat, aset);
* if (services.length > 0) {
* DocPrintJob job = services[0].createPrintJob();
* try {
* job.print(myDoc, aset);
* } catch (PrintException pe) {}
* }
* }</pre>
* </blockquote>
* <p>
* Please note: In the {@code javax.print} APIs, a {@code null} reference
* parameter to methods is incorrect unless explicitly documented on the method
* as having a meaningful interpretation. Usage to the contrary is incorrect
* coding and may result in a run time exception either immediately or at some
* later time. {@code IllegalArgumentException} and {@code NullPointerException}
* are examples of typical and acceptable run time exceptions for such cases.
*
* @since 1.4
*/
package javax.print.attribute;