Why is this Java Page Printing code so extraordinarily slow and is there any alternative to it?

Question

I am using Printable interface. The exact code for PrintPanel which implements Printable is:

package accessory;

// all necessary imports

public class PrintPanel implements Printable {

BufferedImage printableImages[] = null;
DynPanel printable = null;

public Font printFont = new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD , 10);
public String headerStr = null , footerStr = null;
public boolean draw_pageBorder = false;
public Color borderColor = Color.BLACK;
public int pageBorder_thickness = 2;
public int pageCount = 1;

public PrintPanel(DynPanel panel)
{
printable = panel;
pageCount = 1;
}
public PrintPanel(BufferedImage images[])
{
printableImages = images;
pageCount = images.length;
}
    @Override
   public int print(Graphics g, PageFormat pageFormat, int page) throws PrinterException
{
 System.out.println("entered print command");
 if(page < pageCount )
 {

 //--- Create the Graphics2D object
 Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
 g2d.translate(pageFormat.getImageableX(), pageFormat
         .getImageableY());
 //--- Translate the origin to 0,0 for the top left corner

 int fontHeight = g2d.getFontMetrics().getHeight();
 int fontDescent = g2d.getFontMetrics().getDescent();
 int lineHeight = fontHeight+ fontDescent;

 int fontWidth_header = g2d.getFontMetrics().stringWidth(headerStr);
 int fontWidth_footer = g2d.getFontMetrics().stringWidth(footerStr);
 int remainder_header = (int)Math.ceil( pageFormat.getImageableWidth()  )  - fontWidth_header;
 remainder_header /= 2d;
 int remainder_footer = (int)Math.ceil( pageFormat.getImageableWidth()  )  - fontWidth_footer;
 remainder_footer /= 2d;

  if(draw_pageBorder)
  {

 g2d.setPaint(borderColor);


 g2d.setStroke(new BasicStroke(pageBorder_thickness));
 Rectangle2D.Double border = new Rectangle2D.Double(0, 0, pageFormat
     .getImageableWidth()+4, pageFormat.getImageableHeight()+4);

   g2d.draw(border);
  }
  g2d.setFont(printFont);



 // code for printing DynPanel (JPanel)
 if(printable != null)
 {

      Dimension compSize = printable.getPreferredSize();
         // Make sure we size to the preferred size
         printable.setSize(compSize);
         // Get the the print size
         Dimension printSize = new Dimension();
         printSize.setSize(pageFormat.getImageableWidth(), pageFormat.getImageableHeight());

         // Calculate the scale factor
         double scaleFactor = getScaleFactorToFit(compSize, printSize);
         // Don't want to scale up, only want to scale down
         if (scaleFactor > 1d) {
             scaleFactor = 1d;
         }


         // Calculate the scaled size...
         double scaleWidth = compSize.width * scaleFactor;
         double scaleHeight = compSize.height * scaleFactor;

         // Create a clone of the graphics context.  This allows us to manipulate
         // the graphics context without begin worried about what effects
         // it might have once we're finished
         //Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
         // Calculate the x/y position of the component, this will center
         // the result on the page if it can
         double x = ((pageFormat.getImageableWidth() - scaleWidth) / 2d) + pageFormat.getImageableX();
         double y = ((pageFormat.getImageableHeight() - scaleHeight) / 2d) + pageFormat.getImageableY();
 AffineTransform at = new AffineTransform();
 // Translate the offset to out "center" of page
 at.translate(x, y);
 // Set the scaling
 at.scale(scaleFactor, scaleFactor);
 // Apply the transformation
 g2d.transform(at);
 // Print the component

 printable.printAll(g2d);
 }
 else // code for printing BufferedImages 'printableImages'
 {


     try{



            int width = (int) pageFormat.getImageableWidth();
            int height = (int) pageFormat.getImageableHeight();
            int imageWidth  = printableImages[page].getWidth();
            int imageHeight = printableImages[page].getHeight();

            double scaleX = (double)width/imageWidth;
            double scaleY = (double)height/imageHeight;
            AffineTransform scaleTransform = AffineTransform.getScaleInstance(scaleX, scaleY);
            AffineTransformOp bilinearScaleOp = new AffineTransformOp(scaleTransform, AffineTransformOp.TYPE_BILINEAR);

            printableImages[page] = bilinearScaleOp.filter(
                    printableImages[page],
                new BufferedImage(width, height, printableImages[page].getType()));
         System.out.println("Printing IMAGE="+printableImages[page]);

        g2d.drawImage(printableImages[page] ,  (int)pageFormat.getImageableX() , ( (int)pageFormat.getImageableY() + (8 + lineHeight) ),  null);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        System.out.println("ERROR IN PRINTING IMAGE");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

 }
 if(headerStr != null)
     g2d.drawString( headerStr , (int)pageFormat.getImageableX() + remainder_header , (int)pageFormat.getImageableY() + (8 + lineHeight));
     if(footerStr != null)
     {
      if(footerStr.equals("print_page_index"))
          g2d.drawString( ("Page "+( page + 1) + " of " + pageCount ) , (int)pageFormat.getImageableX() + remainder_footer , (int)pageFormat.getImageableY() + ((int)pageFormat.getImageableHeight() - lineHeight - 8 ));
      else 
     g2d.drawString( footerStr ,  (int)pageFormat.getImageableX() + remainder_footer , (int)pageFormat.getImageableY() + ((int)pageFormat.getImageableHeight() - lineHeight - 8));
     }
//else System.out.println("EMPTY PRINT");
 //g2d.dispose();
if(printable != null) printable.revalidate();
  //  printable.paint(g2d);
 return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;
}
else return Printable.NO_SUCH_PAGE;

     }



 }

I am using the constructor PrintPanel(BufferedImage images[])

• Now I am calling a function printDocument() which has the following code:

  private void printDocument()
  {
  
  
  javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
      public void run() {
  
          System.out.println("Initiating print command..");
          long t1 = System.currentTimeMillis();                
          PrinterJob printJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
          Book book = new Book();
          PageFormat documentPageFormat = new PageFormat();
          documentPageFormat.setOrientation(PageFormat.PORTRAIT);
         BufferedImage pages[] = new BufferedImage[pane.pageCount];
  
          for(int count = 0; count < pane.pageCount; count ++ )   
           pages[count] = pane.pages[count].getSnapshot();
  
  
  
          PrintPanel printImage = new PrintPanel(pages);
  
          printImage.headerStr = "Java Study Frame : " + ( docName != null ? (( docName.replaceAll("\\s+" , "").isEmpty() ? " Untitled JSF Document " : docName ) ) : " Untitled JSF Document " ) ;
          printImage.footerStr = "print_page_index";
  
         printJob.setJobName("Java Study Frame Print");
         long t2 = System.currentTimeMillis();
          System.out.println("Setting printable. Prev time = " + (t2 - t1)/1000 +" seconds!");
          t1 = System.currentTimeMillis();
          printJob.setPrintable(printImage);
           t2 = System.currentTimeMillis();
          System.out.println("Printable set in " + (t2 - t1)/1000 + " seconds !");
  
          if (printJob.printDialog()) {
            try {
              printJob.print();
            } catch (Exception PrintException) {
              PrintException.printStackTrace();
            }
          }
      }
  }); 
  

  }

My Questions

1. It is literally taking more than 30 seconds every single time for the print Dialog to appear after " initiating print command" is printed onto the console. What is causing it ?
2. Even upon clicking the "Print" button in the print Dialog its taking a minimum of 40-50 seconds before the print job is actually generated. Why is that ? ( I am printing 1 - 2 pages at the maximum )

3. It takes mostly 3 - 6 seconds to get to beyond setPrintable() ( prev time = 0 seconds and Printable Set is = 3 - 6 seconds ) which means the statement printJob.printDialog() takes time . What could be causing it ?

4. As evidenced by other questions , Java printing seems to be slow. If so , is there any other API for Page Printing in Java which I could use ?

5. Even when I have added only one printableImage the function print() seems to be called multiple times ( 2-3 times) as evidenced by the "entered print command" on the console. Is it correct ?
6. Eventhough the entire printDocument() is launched in a separate thread it HANGS MY APPLICATION . How can that happen. What am I doing wrong here ?