Android Handler 的工作原理解析

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 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 sThreadLocal = new ThreadLocal();

    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。