MessageQueue是一个链表结构，每个message是一个结点，其next指向下一个message。MessageQueue是随着Looper的创建一起被创建的，而Looper是在prepare方法中被创建实例的。看源码，
prepare .png
queue创建.png
再看一下消息入队的方法，
boolean enqueueMessage(Message msg, long when) {//handler中，无论是send还是post提交的消息，最后都调用此方法入队列
if (msg.target == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Message must have a target.");
}
if (msg.isInUse()) {
throw new IllegalStateException(msg + " This message is already in use.");
}
synchronized (this) {//确保线程安全
if (mQuitting) {
IllegalStateException e = new IllegalStateException(
msg.target + " sending message to a Handler on a dead thread");
Log.w(TAG, e.getMessage(), e);
msg.recycle();
return false;
}
msg.markInUse();
msg.when = when;
Message p = mMessages;
boolean needWake;
if (p == null || when == 0 || when < p.when) {//链表中没有消息的情况
// 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;
}
}
//将该message插入到链表的尾部，作为尾结点
msg.next = p; // invariant: p == prev.next
prev.next = msg;
}
// We can assume mPtr != 0 because mQuitting is false.
if (needWake) {//若队列处于休眠等待状态并且插入的是异步消息，则立即唤醒消息队列
nativeWake(mPtr);
}
}
return true;
}
此时消息已经入队了，等待被去除进行处理。我们知道是handler开启了looper循环，从此队列中取消息处理的。looper循环位于Looper.loop()方法中，此方法开启了死循环来从MessageQueue中取消息然后交给message的target处理。只有当队列为空，死循环才终止。
loop.png
for (;;) {
Message msg = queue.next(); // might block 从队列中取消息
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);
}
// Make sure the observer won't change while processing a transaction.
final Observer observer = sObserver;
final long traceTag = me.mTraceTag;
long slowDispatchThresholdMs = me.mSlowDispatchThresholdMs;
long slowDeliveryThresholdMs = me.mSlowDeliveryThresholdMs;
if (thresholdOverride > 0) {
slowDispatchThresholdMs = thresholdOverride;
slowDeliveryThresholdMs = thresholdOverride;
}
final boolean logSlowDelivery = (slowDeliveryThresholdMs > 0) && (msg.when > 0);
final boolean logSlowDispatch = (slowDispatchThresholdMs > 0);
final boolean needStartTime = logSlowDelivery || logSlowDispatch;
final boolean needEndTime = logSlowDispatch;
if (traceTag != 0 && Trace.isTagEnabled(traceTag)) {
Trace.traceBegin(traceTag, msg.target.getTraceName(msg));
}
final long dispatchStart = needStartTime ? SystemClock.uptimeMillis() : 0;
final long dispatchEnd;
Object token = null;
if (observer != null) {
token = observer.messageDispatchStarting();
}
long origWorkSource = ThreadLocalWorkSource.setUid(msg.workSourceUid);
try {
msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg);//分发处理消息
if (observer != null) {
observer.messageDispatched(token, msg);
}
dispatchEnd = needEndTime ? SystemClock.uptimeMillis() : 0;
} catch (Exception exception) {
if (observer != null) {
observer.dispatchingThrewException(token, msg, exception);
}
throw exception;
} finally {
ThreadLocalWorkSource.restore(origWorkSource);
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();//回收message对象，便于复用
}
此处重点是next方法，MessageQueue的next如下，可以看到，msg.target == null这个判断情况已出现过多次，为什么会有这样的消息target为空？
@UnsupportedAppUsage
Message next() {
// Return here if the message loop has already quit and been disposed.
// This can happen if the application tries to restart a looper after quit
// which is not supported.
final long ptr = mPtr;
if (ptr == 0) {
return null;
}
int pendingIdleHandlerCount = -1; // -1 only during first iteration
int nextPollTimeoutMillis = 0;
for (;;) {//仍然是死循环
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) { //遇到了barrier屏障，优先处理异步消息
// 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) {// 对应屏障后的异步消息情况
prevMsg.next = msg.next;
} else {//无屏障
mMessages = msg.next;
}
//从链表中移除该消息
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;
}
}
其实这种消息叫做屏障消息，handler中，消息分为同步消息（普通消息），异步消息和屏障消息。同步消息就是使用默认构造函数handler，sendmessage发送出去的消息都是同步消息，屏障消息的target被刻意设置为空，表示是一个屏障，异步消息由系统根据事务的重要性发送出来的消息，比如界面绘制刷新。屏障的作用是屏蔽链表中处于屏障之后的所有同步消息，保证异步消息优先执行，以isAsynchronous()方法来判断消息是否异步。那么这里有个疑问了，是不是异步消息执行完了，同步消息就被跳过了不执行了？非也。
只要移除了链表中的屏障消息，那么链表中的所有消息还是会按照顺序进行处理。我们看一下添加屏障和移除屏障的方法，
private int postSyncBarrier(long when) {
// Enqueue a new sync barrier token.
// We don't need to wake the queue because the purpose of a barrier is to stall it.
synchronized (this) {
final int token = mNextBarrierToken++;
final Message msg = Message.obtain();
msg.markInUse();
msg.when = when;
msg.arg1 = token;
//可以看到，并没给msg配置target，并将其添加到表尾
Message prev = null;
Message p = mMessages;
if (when != 0) {//根据屏障的时间点找到在这个时间点会被处理的普通消息
while (p != null && p.when <= when) {
prev = p;
p = p.next;
}
}
//将屏障插入到链表表头或者链表中合适的位置，取决于时间点when
if (prev != null) { // invariant: p == prev.next
msg.next = p;
prev.next = msg;
} else {
msg.next = p;
mMessages = msg;
}
return token;
}
}
再看一下如何移除屏障，
@TestApi
public void removeSyncBarrier(int token) {
// Remove a sync barrier token from the queue.
// If the queue is no longer stalled by a barrier then wake it.
synchronized (this) {
Message prev = null;
Message p = mMessages;
while (p != null && (p.target != null || p.arg1 != token)) {//根据创建屏障时的token或者target来找到屏障
prev = p;
p = p.next;
}
if (p == null) {
throw new IllegalStateException("The specified message queue synchronization "
+ " barrier token has not been posted or has already been removed.");
}
final boolean needWake;
//从链表中移除屏障
if (prev != null) {
prev.next = p.next;
needWake = false;
} else {
mMessages = p.next;
needWake = mMessages == null || mMessages.target != null;
}
p.recycleUnchecked();
// If the loop is quitting then it is already awake.
// We can assume mPtr != 0 when mQuitting is false.
if (needWake && !mQuitting) {
nativeWake(mPtr);
}
}
}
屏障的移除方法调用发生在界面刷新等操作执行完之后。
