前言
提到Handler大家应该都不会陌生，它是安卓中消息机制的主要核心类，配合MessageQueue和Looper一起使用构成了我们所熟悉的Android消息机制。Handler的主要工作是将一个任务切换到指定的线程去执行，因为Android中规定访问UI只能在主线程中进行，如果在子线程中访问UI，会抛出异常。而Android中不建议在主线程执行耗时操作否则会造成ANR，所以说。系统提供Handler的主要原因是为了解决在子线程中无法访问UI的问题。
本文深入分析 Android 的消息处理机制，了解 Handler 的工作原理。
Handler
创建一个handler的构造方法很多，不过最终都会调用下面这两个构造方法，贴源码：
public Handler(Looper looper, Callback callback, boolean async) {
mLooper = looper;
mQueue = looper.mQueue;
mCallback = callback;
mAsynchronous = async;
}
public Handler(Callback callback, boolean async) {
if (FIND_POTENTIAL_LEAKS) {
final Class<? extends Handler> klass = getClass();
if ((klass.isAnonymousClass() || klass.isMemberClass() || klass.isLocalClass()) &&
(klass.getModifiers() & Modifier.STATIC) == 0) {
Log.w(TAG, "The following Handler class should be static or leaks might occur: " +
klass.getCanonicalName());
}
}
mLooper = Looper.myLooper();
if (mLooper == null) {
throw new RuntimeException(
"Can't create handler inside thread " + Thread.currentThread()
+ " that has not called Looper.prepare()");
}
mQueue = mLooper.mQueue;
mCallback = callback;
mAsynchronous = async;
}
可以看到，主要完成了 Looper mLooper，MessageQueue mQueue，Callback mCallback 和 boolean mAsynchronous的初始化。通过调用 Looper.myLooper() 获得了 Looper 对象。如果 mLooper 为空，那么会抛出异常：”Can’t create handler inside thread that has not called Looper.prepare()”，意思是：不能在未调用 Looper.prepare() 的线程创建 handler。
Looper
1.在 Handler 的构造方法中调用 Looper.myLooper() 获得了 Looper 对象，方法源码如下：
// sThreadLocal.get() will return null unless you've called prepare().
static final ThreadLocal<Looper> sThreadLocal = new ThreadLocal<Looper>();
public static @Nullable Looper myLooper() {
return sThreadLocal.get();
}
从 sThreadLocal 中获取了Looper对象，ThreadLocal是一个线程内部的数据存储类，通过它可以在指定线程中存储数据，存储后可以在指定线程中获取到存储的数据，而其他线程则无法获取到数据。这里用ThreadLocal说明Looper是线程独立的。
2.在Handler的构造方法中异常信息可知道如果没有调用Looper.prepare()是不能创建handler的，因为并没有获取Lopper，源码如下。
public static void prepare() {
prepare(true);
}
private static void prepare(boolean quitAllowed) {
if (sThreadLocal.get() != null) {
throw new RuntimeException("Only one Looper may be created per thread");
}
sThreadLocal.set(new Looper(quitAllowed));
}
调用了Looper的构造方法创建了Looper对象，然后设置给sThreadLocal，这里需要注意如果已经设置过就会抛出异常，因为一个线程只会有一个Looper。下面看Looper构造方法：
private Looper(boolean quitAllowed) {
mQueue = new MessageQueue(quitAllowed);
mThread = Thread.currentThread();
}
在这里创建了MessageQueue消息队列对象，获取了当前线程。
3.有了Looper之后，还必须调用Looper.loop()才能开启消息轮询，这样才能不断从消息队列 MessageQueue 取出消息交由 Handler 处理。
public static void loop() {
final Looper me = myLooper();
if (me == null) {
throw new RuntimeException("No Looper; Looper.prepare() wasn't called on this thread.");
}
final MessageQueue queue = me.mQueue;
// Make sure the identity of this thread is that of the local process,
// and keep track of what that identity token actually is.
Binder.clearCallingIdentity();
final long ident = Binder.clearCallingIdentity();
// Allow overriding a threshold with a system prop. e.g.
// adb shell 'setprop log.looper.1000.main.slow 1 && stop && start'
final int thresholdOverride =
SystemProperties.getInt("log.looper."
+ Process.myUid() + "."
+ Thread.currentThread().getName()
+ ".slow", 0);
boolean slowDeliveryDetected = false;
for (;;) {
Message msg = queue.next(); // might block
if (msg == null) {
// No message indicates that the message queue is quitting.
return;
}
// This must be in a local variable, in case a UI event sets the logger
final Printer logging = me.mLogging;
if (logging != null) {
logging.println(">>>>> Dispatching to " + msg.target + " " +
msg.callback + ": " + msg.what);
}
final long traceTag = me.mTraceTag;
long slowDispatchThresholdMs = me.mSlowDispatchThresholdMs;
//......省略不关键代码
try {
msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg);
dispatchEnd = needEndTime ? SystemClock.uptimeMillis() : 0;
} finally {
if (traceTag != 0) {
Trace.traceEnd(traceTag);
}
}
if (logSlowDelivery) {
if (slowDeliveryDetected) {
if ((dispatchStart - msg.when) <= 10) {
Slog.w(TAG, "Drained");
slowDeliveryDetected = false;
}
} else {
if (showSlowLog(slowDeliveryThresholdMs, msg.when, dispatchStart, "delivery",
msg)) {
// Once we write a slow delivery log, suppress until the queue drains.
slowDeliveryDetected = true;
}
}
}
if (logSlowDispatch) {
showSlowLog(slowDispatchThresholdMs, dispatchStart, dispatchEnd, "dispatch", msg);
}
if (logging != null) {
logging.println("<<<<< Finished to " + msg.target + " " + msg.callback);
}
// Make sure that during the course of dispatching the
// identity of the thread wasn't corrupted.
final long newIdent = Binder.clearCallingIdentity();
if (ident != newIdent) {
Log.wtf(TAG, "Thread identity changed from 0x"
+ Long.toHexString(ident) + " to 0x"
+ Long.toHexString(newIdent) + " while dispatching to "
+ msg.target.getClass().getName() + " "
+ msg.callback + " what=" + msg.what);
}
msg.recycleUnchecked();
}
}
这里主要是一直循环调用queue.next()拿到Message，然后通过msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg)方法处理，target是发送这条消息的handler对象（下面的分析会看到），这样交给handler的dispatchMessage(msg)处理。该循环只会在queue.next()为null时，才能跳出循环，否则一直阻塞下去。
MessageQueue
MessageQueue主要包含两个操作：插入和读取。读取的时候伴随着删除操作。
插入操作：enqueueMessage（），实现单链表的插入操作。
boolean enqueueMessage(Message msg, long when) {
synchronized (this) {
msg.markInUse();
msg.when = when;
Message p = mMessages;
boolean needWake;
if (p == null || when == 0 || when < p.when) {
// New head, wake up the event queue if blocked.
msg.next = p;
mMessages = msg;
needWake = mBlocked;
} else {
// Inserted within the middle of the queue. Usually we don't have to wake
// up the event queue unless there is a barrier at the head of the queue
// and the message is the earliest asynchronous message in the queue.
needWake = mBlocked && p.target == null && msg.isAsynchronous();
Message prev;
for (;;) {
prev = p;
p = p.next;
if (p == null || when < p.when) {
break;
}
if (needWake && p.isAsynchronous()) {
needWake = false;
}
}
msg.next = p; // invariant: p == prev.next
prev.next = msg;
}
// We can assume mPtr != 0 because mQuitting is false.
if (needWake) {
nativeWake(mPtr);
}
}
return true;
}
读取操作：next()方法，代码较长，看看就行了。无线循环，这个方法被Looper.loop()调用。
Message next() {
final long ptr = mPtr;
if (ptr == 0) {
return null;
}
int pendingIdleHandlerCount = -1; // -1 only during first iteration
int nextPollTimeoutMillis = 0;
for (;;) {
if (nextPollTimeoutMillis != 0) {
Binder.flushPendingCommands();
}
nativePollOnce(ptr, nextPollTimeoutMillis);
synchronized (this) {
// Try to retrieve the next message. Return if found.
final long now = SystemClock.uptimeMillis();
Message prevMsg = null;
Message msg = mMessages;
if (msg != null && msg.target == null) {
// Stalled by a barrier. Find the next asynchronous message in the queue.
do {
prevMsg = msg;
msg = msg.next;
} while (msg != null && !msg.isAsynchronous());
}
if (msg != null) {
if (now < msg.when) {
// Next message is not ready. Set a timeout to wake up when it is ready.
nextPollTimeoutMillis = (int) Math.min(msg.when - now, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
} else {
// Got a message.
mBlocked = false;
if (prevMsg != null) {
prevMsg.next = msg.next;
} else {
mMessages = msg.next;
}
msg.next = null;
if (DEBUG) Log.v(TAG, "Returning message: " + msg);
msg.markInUse();
return msg;
}
} else {
// No more messages.
nextPollTimeoutMillis = -1;
}
// Process the quit message now that all pending messages have been handled.
if (mQuitting) {
dispose();
return null;
}
// If first time idle, then get the number of idlers to run.
// Idle handles only run if the queue is empty or if the first message
// in the queue (possibly a barrier) is due to be handled in the future.
if (pendingIdleHandlerCount < 0
&& (mMessages == null || now < mMessages.when)) {
pendingIdleHandlerCount = mIdleHandlers.size();
}
if (pendingIdleHandlerCount <= 0) {
// No idle handlers to run. Loop and wait some more.
mBlocked = true;
continue;
}
if (mPendingIdleHandlers == null) {
mPendingIdleHandlers = new IdleHandler[Math.max(pendingIdleHandlerCount, 4)];
}
mPendingIdleHandlers = mIdleHandlers.toArray(mPendingIdleHandlers);
}
// Run the idle handlers.
// We only ever reach this code block during the first iteration.
for (int i = 0; i < pendingIdleHandlerCount; i++) {
final IdleHandler idler = mPendingIdleHandlers[i];
mPendingIdleHandlers[i] = null; // release the reference to the handler
boolean keep = false;
try {
keep = idler.queueIdle();
} catch (Throwable t) {
Log.wtf(TAG, "IdleHandler threw exception", t);
}
if (!keep) {
synchronized (this) {
mIdleHandlers.remove(idler);
}
}
}
// Reset the idle handler count to 0 so we do not run them again.
pendingIdleHandlerCount = 0;
// While calling an idle handler, a new message could have been delivered
// so go back and look again for a pending message without waiting.
nextPollTimeoutMillis = 0;
}
}
再回到Handler
Handler主要负责消息的发送和接收，发送可以通过一系列post方法和send方法，post方法最终也会调用send方法实现。
public final boolean sendMessage(Message msg)
{
return sendMessageDelayed(msg, 0);
}
public final boolean sendMessageDelayed(Message msg, long delayMillis)
{
if (delayMillis < 0) {
delayMillis = 0;
}
return sendMessageAtTime(msg, SystemClock.uptimeMillis() + delayMillis);
}
public boolean sendMessageAtTime(Message msg, long uptimeMillis) {
MessageQueue queue = mQueue;
if (queue == null) {
RuntimeException e = new RuntimeException(
this + " sendMessageAtTime() called with no mQueue");
Log.w("Looper", e.getMessage(), e);
return false;
}
return enqueueMessage(queue, msg, uptimeMillis);
}
private boolean enqueueMessage(MessageQueue queue, Message msg, long uptimeMillis) {
msg.target = this;
if (mAsynchronous) {
msg.setAsynchronous(true);
}
return queue.enqueueMessage(msg, uptimeMillis);
}
一步步调用可以发现Handler发送消息就是像MessageQueue中加入了一个新的Message。
之前在Looper介绍过，在loop方法中调用MessageQueue.next()方法拿到msg后，会调用handler的dispatchMessage()方法，dispatchMessage方法实现如下
public void dispatchMessage(Message msg) {
if (msg.callback != null) {
handleCallback(msg);
} else {
if (mCallback != null) {
if (mCallback.handleMessage(msg)) {
return;
}
}
handleMessage(msg);
}
}
这里的msg.callback就是一个Runnable对象，也就是Handler.post()传递的参数。
private static void handleCallback(Message message) {
message.callback.run();
}
mCallback是一个Callback接口，定义如下：
/**
* Callback interface you can use when instantiating a Handler to avoid
* having to implement your own subclass of Handler.
*/
public interface Callback {
/**
* @param msg A {@link android.os.Message Message} object
* @return True if no further handling is desired
*/
public boolean handleMessage(Message msg);
}
作用和它的注释一样，可以用来创建一个Handler的实例，但并不需要派生Handler的子类。在Handler构造方法中讲过，可以传一个Callback进去，这样就不用重写Handler的handleMessage方法。配张图来解释下dispatchMessage流程。
总结
现在我们可以知道消息处理是通过 Handler 、Looper 以及 MessageQueue共同完成。 Handler 负责发送以及处理消息，Looper 创建消息队列并不断从队列中取出消息交给 Handler， MessageQueue 则用于保存消息。这三者是一个整体，缺一不可。
