When running the following code, select File/Print from the menu bar.
Then click "Print" in the print dialog. I then get a run-time error,
a NullPointerException. The call trace shows it to be 5 levels below
the call in my program which generates the exception.

Exception occurred during event dispatching:
java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.Hashtable.get(Hashtable.java)
at sun.awt.motif.X11FontMetrics.getFontMetrics(X11FontMetrics.java:186)
at sun.awt.motif.MToolkit.getFontMetrics(MToolkit.java:208)
at sun.awt.motif.PSGraphics.getFontMetrics(PSGraphics.java:136)
at java.awt.Graphics.getFontMetrics(Graphics.java:195)
at DrawingArea.paint(DrawingArea.java:12)
at java.awt.Component.print(Component.java:1160)
at dareout.actionPerformed(dareout.java:43)
at java.awt.MenuItem.processActionEvent(MenuItem.java:336)
at java.awt.MenuItem.processEvent(MenuItem.java:307)
at java.awt.MenuComponent.dispatchEventImpl(MenuComponent.java:144)
at java.awt.MenuComponent.dispatchEvent(MenuComponent.java:136)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:65)


2 test source files: dareout.java & DrawingArea.java


// dareout.java
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;


public final class dareout extends Frame implements ActionListener {

   private DrawingArea draw_here;

public void makeMenuItem (Menu menu, String name) {
   MenuItem mi;
   mi = new MenuItem (name);
   mi.addActionListener (this);
   menu.add (mi);
}

public dareout (String ftitle) {
   super(ftitle);
   MenuBar menubar;
   Menu file, actions, display;
   file = new Menu ("File");
   makeMenuItem (file, "Print");
   makeMenuItem (file, "Exit");
   menubar = new MenuBar ();
   setMenuBar (menubar);
   menubar.add (file);
   draw_here = new DrawingArea ();
   add (draw_here);
   setBackground (Color.white);
   pack ();
   setSize (new Dimension (1026, 749));
}

public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e) {
   if (e.getSource() instanceof MenuItem)
      if (e.getActionCommand().equals("Print")) {
         PrintJob pj = getToolkit().getPrintJob (this,
            "Printing Test", (Properties)null);
         if (pj != null) {
            Graphics pg = pj.getGraphics();
            if (pg != null) {
               draw_here.print (pg);
               pg.dispose ();
            }
            pj.end();
         }
      }
      else if (e.getActionCommand().equals("Exit"))
         System.exit (0);
}
public static void main (String[] args) {
   dareout f;
   f = new dareout ("dareout");
   f.show ();
}
}

// DrawingArea.java
public final class DrawingArea extends Canvas {
   float left = 0f, right = 1016f, top = 0f, bottom = 688f;

public void paint (Graphics g) {
   int stringwidth, stringheight;
   stringheight = (g.getFontMetrics()).getHeight();
   stringwidth = (g.getFontMetrics()).stringWidth("SAMPLE TITLE")/2;
}

}