Handler-Looper-Message是Android中重要的异步消息处理机制，也是Android开发中不得不谈的东西这也是Activity等组件中工作机制实现的重要部分，作为Android源码阅读在合适不过了。
1、概论
Message用于存储数据，Looper与当前线程绑定，创建一个MessageQueue,无限循环从中读取Message，当MessageQueue为空时阻塞，Handler可以获取线程绑定的Lopper,Handler发送Messager到Looper的MessageQueue,Looper取出的Message再交给Handler处理。（例:Handler用于子线程更新UI,主线程中创建Handler,它与主线程的Looper绑定,然后在子线程中使用Handler发送消息，Looper取出后Handler在它创建的主线程中执行）
2、源码解析
1、Message
Messsag用于存储传递的数据。
/**
* arg1 and arg2 are lower-cost alternatives to using
* {@link #setData(Bundle) setData()} if *you only need to store a few integer *values.
*arg1和arg2是低成本数据的选择方案
*如果只要存储一些integer只用选择它*们，不必使用setData();
*/
public int arg1;
/**
* arg1 and arg2 are lower-cost alternatives to using
* {@link #setData(Bundle) setData()} if you only need to store a
* few integer values.
*/
public int arg2;
创建Message不必使用它的构造方法，使用obtain();可以从Message池中取出一个Message,避免多次创建新的Message对象。
* Return a new Message instance from the global pool. Allows us to
* avoid allocating new objects in many cases.
*/
public static Message obtain() {
synchronized (sPoolSync) {
if (sPool != null) {
Message m = sPool;
sPool = m.next;
m.next = null;
m.flags = 0; // clear in-use flag
sPoolSize--;
return m;
}
}
return new Message();
}
/**
* Same as {@link #obtain()}, but copies the values of an existing
* message (including its target) into the new one.
* @param orig Original message to copy.
* @return A Message object from the global pool.
*/
public static Message obtain(Message orig) {
Message m = obtain();
m.what = orig.what;
m.arg1 = orig.arg1;
m.arg2 = orig.arg2;
m.obj = orig.obj;
m.replyTo = orig.replyTo;
m.sendingUid = orig.sendingUid;
if (orig.data != null) {
m.data = new Bundle(orig.data);
}
m.target = orig.target;
m.callback = orig.callback;
return m;
}
/**
* Same as {@link #obtain()}, but sets the value for the target member on the Message returned.
* @param h Handler to assign to the returned Message object's target member.
* @return A Message object from the global pool.
*/
public static Message obtain(Handler h) {
Message m = obtain();
m.target = h;
return m;
}
2、Looper
Looper定义有一个MessageQueue对象和一个ThreadLocal对象，Looper只会与一个线程绑定，下面看源码，主要是prepare()和loop()两个方法，Activity的启动代码中，在当前UI线程就会调用Looper.prepare()和Looper.loop()方法。
/** Initialize the current thread as a looper.
* This gives you a chance to create handlers that then reference
* this looper, before actually starting the loop. Be sure to call
* {@link #loop()} after calling this method, and end it by calling
* {@link #quit()}.
*/
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));
}
hreadLocal是一个ThreadLocal对象，可以在一个线程中存储变量。可以看到，将一个Looper的实例放入了ThreadLocal，并且2-4行判断了sThreadLocal是否为null，否则抛出异常。这也就说明了Looper.prepare()方法不能被调用两次，同时也保证了一个线程中只有一个Looper实例,接下来是loop()方法
/**
* Run the message queue in this thread. Be sure to call
* {@link #quit()} to end the loop.
*/
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();
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
Printer logging = me.mLogging;
if (logging != null) {
logging.println(">>>>> Dispatching to " + msg.target + " " +
msg.callback + ": " + msg.what);
}
msg.target.dispatchMessage(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();
}
}
/**
* Return the Looper object associated with the current thread. Returns
* null if the calling thread is not associated with a Looper.
*/
public static Looper myLooper() {
return sThreadLocal.get();
}
方法中直接获取了sThreadLocal存储的Looper实例，如果me为null则抛出异常，这就是说looper方法必须在prepare方法之后才运行。然后拿到该looper实例中的mQueue，就进入了无限循环。然后一直取出一条消息，直到没有消息则阻塞。
获取消息后使用msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg);把消息交给msg的target的dispatchMessage方法去处理。Msg的target是什么呢？其实就是handler对象，下面会进行分析。最后释放消息占据的资源。
3、Handle重要上场了
首先看下它是怎么与Looper链接起来的
/**
* Use the {@link Looper} for the current thread with the specified callback interface
* and set whether the handler should be asynchronous.
*
* Handlers are synchronous by default unless this constructor is used to make
* one that is strictly asynchronous.
*
* Asynchronous messages represent interrupts or events that do not require global ordering
* with respect to synchronous messages. Asynchronous messages are not subject to
* the synchronization barriers introduced by {@link MessageQueue#enqueueSyncBarrier(long)}.
*
* @param callback The callback interface in which to handle messages, or null.
* @param async If true, the handler calls {@link Message#setAsynchronous(boolean)} for
* each {@link Message} that is sent to it or {@link Runnable} that is posted to it.
*
* @hide
*/
public Handler(Callback callback, boolean async) {
if (FIND_POTENTIAL_LEAKS) {
final Class 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 that has not called Looper.prepare()");
}
mQueue = mLooper.mQueue;
mCallback = callback;
mAsynchronous = async;
}
英文文档写的很详细，大意就是通过Looper.myLooper()获取了当前线程保存的Looper实例，然后又获取了这个Looper实例中保存的MessageQueue（消息队列），这样就保证了handler的实例与我们Looper实例中MessageQueue关联上了。
接下来看下常用的sendMessage()
public final boolean sendMessage(Message msg){
return sendMessageDelayed(msg, 0);
}
public final boolean sendEmptyMessageDelayed(int what, long delayMillis) {
Message msg = Message.obtain();
msg.what = what;
return sendMessageDelayed(msg, delayMillis);
}
都调用到sendMessageDelayed
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);
}
这里就给target赋值为this,就是上面说的target就是Handler了，所以最终会调用queue的enqueueMessage的方法，也就是说handler发出的消息，最终会保存到消息队列中去。然后就联系上面Looper中的无限循环取出Message了，所以最终会调用Handler的dispatchMessage(msg);
/**
* Handle system messages here.
*/
public void dispatchMessage(Message msg) {
if (msg.callback != null) {
handleCallback(msg);
} else {
if (mCallback != null) {
if (mCallback.handleMessage(msg)) {
return;
}
}
handleMessage(msg);
}
}
/**
* Subclasses must implement this to receive messages.
*/
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
}
这个就是个空方法，所以需要我们对它进行复写。于是乎，处理Message就交到我们手中了。
3、总结
1、首先利用Looper.prepare()在本线程绑定一个Looper实例，然后该实例中保存一个MessageQueue对象；因为Looper.prepare()在一个线程中只能调用一次，所以在一个线程中只有一个MessgeQueue。
2、Looper.loop()会让当前线程进入一个无限循环，不断从MessageQueue的实例中读取消息，然后回调msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg)方法。
3、Handler的构造方法，会首先得到当前线程中保存的Looper实例，进而与Looper实例中的MessageQueue关联。
4、Handler的sendMessage方法，会给msg的target赋值为handler，然后加入MessageQueue中。
5、在构造Handler实例时，我们会重写handleMessage方法，也就是msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg)最终调用的方法。
