Drawing slices of a circle in java?

I want to represent a timer by having a filled circle which is fully drawn over the course of the timer by segment. I.e. If the circle is filled in every 1 second for a timer of 4 seconds the first will show a quarter of a circle then a half then three-quarters and finally a full circle.

Is there a way to draw these slices of a circle in java? I've looked into arbitrary shapes in the graphics API but not sure if this is the right way to go or if there is something written into the language which can easily produce these type of shapes?

Any help much appreciated.

Yes, it's possible. Yes, Graphics2D has the ability to do this for you

Take a look at Drawing Geometric Primitives (look for the Arc2D section).

To "animate" the progress, it would probably be easiest to use a javax.swing.Timer, but your requirements might require you to use a SwingWorker instead. Have a look at Currency in Swing and How to use Swing Timers for more information.

The following example is relatively simple. It assumes a progress of 0-100% and generates a arc as required. It would be a simple matter of changing the color of the Graphics2D context and using draw(Shape) to draw an out line of the circle should you want one.

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.geom.Arc2D;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.Timer;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;

public class ArcProgress {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new ArcProgress();
    }
    private float progress;

    public ArcProgress() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
                }

                final ArcProgressPane p1 = new ArcProgressPane();
                p1.setForeground(Color.RED);
                final ArcProgressPane p2 = new ArcProgressPane();
                p2.setForeground(Color.BLUE);
                p2.setFillProgress(true);

                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
                frame.add(p1);
                frame.add(p2);
                frame.pack();
                frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                frame.setVisible(true);

                Timer timer = new Timer(40, new ActionListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                        progress += 0.01f;
                        if (progress >= 1f) {
                            progress = 1f;
                            ((Timer) e.getSource()).stop();
                        }
                        p1.setProgress(progress);
                        p2.setProgress(progress);
                    }
                });
                timer.setRepeats(true);
                timer.setCoalesce(true);
                timer.start();

            }
        });
    }

    public class ArcProgressPane extends JPanel {

        private boolean fillProgress = false;
        private float progress;

        public ArcProgressPane() {
        }

        public void setFillProgress(boolean value) {
            if (fillProgress != value) {
                this.fillProgress = value;
                firePropertyChange("fillProgress", !fillProgress, fillProgress);
            }
        }

        public boolean isFillProgress() {
            return fillProgress;
        }

        @Override
        public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
            return new Dimension(100, 100);
        }

        public void setProgress(float value) {
            if (progress != value) {
                float old = progress;
                this.progress = value;
                firePropertyChange("progress", old, progress);
                repaint();
            }
        }

        public float getProgress() {
            return progress;
        }

        @Override
        protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
            super.paintComponent(g);

            Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ALPHA_INTERPOLATION, RenderingHints.VALUE_ALPHA_INTERPOLATION_QUALITY);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_COLOR_RENDERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_COLOR_RENDER_QUALITY);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_DITHERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_DITHER_ENABLE);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_FRACTIONALMETRICS, RenderingHints.VALUE_FRACTIONALMETRICS_ON);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_INTERPOLATION, RenderingHints.VALUE_INTERPOLATION_BILINEAR);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_RENDERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_RENDER_QUALITY);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_STROKE_CONTROL, RenderingHints.VALUE_STROKE_PURE);

            Insets insets = getInsets();
            int width = getWidth() - (insets.left + insets.right);
            int height = getHeight() - (insets.bottom + insets.top);
            int raidus = Math.min(width, height);
            int x = insets.left + ((width - raidus) / 2);
            int y = insets.right + ((height - raidus) / 2);

            double extent = 360d * progress;

            g2d.setColor(getForeground());
            Arc2D arc = null;
            if (isFillProgress()) {
                arc = new Arc2D.Double(x, y, raidus, raidus, 90, -extent, Arc2D.PIE);
            } else {
                extent = 360 - extent;
                arc = new Arc2D.Double(x, y, raidus, raidus, 90, extent, Arc2D.PIE);
            }
            g2d.fill(arc);
            g2d.dispose();
        }
    }
}