3 questions-1)easy-images.2)hard-building a timer in a game.3)medium

Question

hello to all the java canons...
1)Can anyone give me a code of image cuting.the problem is that i need to cut an image but not in a square shape,i need to cut it as a trpeze and i didnd found find in the api a method that recives 4 x point and 4 y poins to cut an image in a shape of a trapeze.
2)I have 2 classes:one is JPanel and the other is JApplet.I want to build a timer in a game which gives a player a period of time to play,and if he didnt the game ends.i thoght to build a timer in the JPanel class and to paint a line which is getting bigger every second and when the line ends the player lost.how do the JPanel class know when the player played and stop the animation(the JApplet class has an actionlistener method),because the timer running stayes in the JPanel class until the timer ends...help....give me ideas...
3)I need to upload a gif image to a JButton,i tried the code in the tutorial and it didnt work,can anyone give me a code that he wrote and it worked???
thanks in advance....

Answer 1

In response to your first question I recommend following this line into the turorial:
java tutorial >> 2D Graphics >> Displaying Graphics With Graphics2D >> and from there follow the links to Transforming Shapes, Text, and Images and Clipping the Drawing Region.
The first section on Transforming... will show how to use the AffineTransform class to shear. The second shows how to use the clip methods found in the api of the Graphics and Graphics2D classes.
For questions 2 and 3:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.Timer;
public class QuestionDemo extends JApplet
    public void init()
        String fileName = "images/dukeWaveRed.gif";
        URL url = getClass().getResource(fileName);
        ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(url);
        JButton gifButton = new JButton(icon);
        JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
        buttonPanel.add(gifButton);
        GamePanel panel = new GamePanel();
        Container cp = getContentPane();
        cp.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
        GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc.gridwidth = gbc.REMAINDER;
        gbc.insets = new Insets(5,0,5,0);
        cp.add(buttonPanel, gbc);
        cp.add(panel, gbc);
        cp.add(panel.getUIPanel(), gbc);
    public static void main(String[] args)
        JApplet applet = new QuestionDemo();
        JFrame f = new JFrame();
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.getContentPane().add(applet);
        f.setSize(400,400);
        f.setLocation(200,200);
        applet.init();
        applet.start();
        f.setVisible(true);
class GamePanel extends JPanel
    final int PAD;
    int time;
    Timer timer;
    Color color;
    final int
        delay = 250,
        interval = 60;
    public GamePanel()
        PAD = 30;
        color = Color.black;
        time = 0;
        timer = new Timer(delay, new ActionListener()
            int timeLimit = interval * 1000;  // milliseconds
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                time++;
                if(time > timeLimit/delay)
                    color = Color.red;
                    Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();
                    timer.stop();
                repaint();
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300,200));
        setBackground(Color.white);
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
         super.paintComponent(g);
         Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
         g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                             RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
         int w = getWidth();
         int h = getHeight();
         double elapsed = time * (w - 2*PAD) * delay/(interval*1000);
         double x = PAD;
         double y = h - PAD - 8;
         g2.setPaint(color);
         g2.fill(new Rectangle2D.Double(x, y, elapsed, 8));
    public JPanel getUIPanel()
        final JButton
            start = new JButton("start"),
            stop = new JButton("stop");
        ActionListener l = new ActionListener()
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                JButton button = (JButton)e.getSource();
                if(button == start)
                    if(!timer.isRunning())
                        time = 0;
                        color = Color.black;
                        timer.start();
                        repaint();
                if(button == stop)
                    if(timer.isRunning())
                        timer.stop();
        start.addActionListener(l);
        stop.addActionListener(l);
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.add(start);
        panel.add(stop);
        return panel;
}