title: Printing reciepts with thermal printer in java
body: <p>I have to print receipts through a thermal printer using Java. I have done everything. 
  My program takes the data from the database and converts in one string using special characters, tabs and \n. Then the string is passed on to another method that converts it into graphics.</p>
  
  <p>The problem is that when I click the print button, white paper comes out. I noticed that the first 4-5 characters of my String are getting printed on the last line of the bill on the right corner at the extreme end of the paper. My printer is Epson TM - T81. </p>
  
  <pre><code>  public void printThisBill()
    {
  
        DefaultTableModel mod = (DefaultTableModel) jTable1.getModel();
        DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
        DateFormat timeFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm");
        //get current date time with Date()
        Date date = new Date();
        Date time = new Date();
        String Date = dateFormat.format(date);
        String Time = timeFormat.format(time);
        String Header = 
              "   ****Super Market****       \n"
              + "Date: "+Date+"     Time: "+Time+"\n"
              + "---------------------------------\n"
              + "Name          Qty    Rate     Amt\n"
              + "---------------------------------\n";
  
        String amt  =    
              "\n \n \nTotal Amount = "+  amt()   +"\n"
              + "Tax ="   +  tax()    + "\n"
              + "*********************************\n"
              + "Thank you. \n";
  
        String bill = Header;
        int i = 0;
        do
        {
  
           String name =     ""+ mod.getValueAt(i, 2);
           String qty =      ""+ mod.getValueAt(i, 3);
           String rate =     ""+ mod.getValueAt(i, 4);
           String amount =   ""+ mod.getValueAt(i, 6);
  
           if(name.length() &gt; 12)
           {
               name = name.substring(0, 12)+"  ";
           }
           else
           {
               for(int j= name.length()-12; j&lt;= name.length(); j++);
               {
                   name = name+" ";
               } 
           }
  
  
           if(qty.length()&lt;=5)
           {
               for(int j= 0; j&lt;= qty.length()-5; j++);
               {
                  qty = qty+" ";
               }
           }
  
           rate = rate;
           String items = 
               name+"\t"+qty+"\t"+rate+"\t"+amount+"\n";
  
           bill = bill+ items;       
           i++;
  
       } while(i &lt;= mod.getRowCount()-1);
  
       bill = bill+amt;
       System.out.println(bill);
       printCard(bill);
       dispose();
   }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And the method that prints the bill is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public static void printCard(final String bill )
  {
         Printable contentToPrint = new Printable(){
         @Override
          public int print(Graphics graphics, PageFormat pageFormat, int page) throws PrinterException 
          {
             if (page &gt; 0) {
                  return NO_SUCH_PAGE;
              }
              pageFormat.setOrientation(PageFormat.LANDSCAPE);
              Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D)graphics.create();
  
              g2d.setPaint(Color.black);
              g2d.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD, 10));
              g2d.translate(pageFormat.getImageableX(), pageFormat.getImageableX());
  
  
  
              g2d.drawString(bill, 0, 0);
  
              return PAGE_EXISTS;
           }
         };
  
         PrinterJob job = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
         job.setPrintable(contentToPrint);
         //You can show a print dialog before printing by job by wrapping the following blocks with a conditional statement if(job.printDialog()){...}
         try 
         {
             job.print();
         } catch (PrinterException e) 
         {
             System.err.println(e.getMessage());
         }
  
   }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is the problem and how can I solve it? I think that I'm not setting the right parameters at drawString() Method.</p>
  
  <p>Or is it something else? Any help would me appreciated.!</p>