ContentProvider的工作过程

ContentProvider的工作过程

ContentProvider是一种内容共享型组件，它通过Binder向其他组件乃至其他应用提供数据，当ContentProvider所在的进程启动时，ContentProvider会同时启动并发布到AMS中。需要注意，ContentProvider的onCreate要先于Application的onCreate而执行。
当一个应用启动时，入口方法为ActivityThread的main方法，在main中创建ActivityThread的实例并创建主线程的消息队列，然后在ActivityThread的attach方法中远程调用AMS的attachApplication方法并将ApplicationThread对象提供给AMS。ApplicationThread是一个Binder对象，它的Binder接口是IApplicationThread,它主要用于ActivityThread和AMS间的通讯。在AMS的attachApplication方法中，会调用ApplicationThread的bindApplication方法（跨进程完成），bindApplication的逻辑会经过ActivityThread中的Handler切换到ActivityThread中执行，具体方法是handleBindApplication。
在handleBindApplication方法中，ActivityThread会创建Application对象并加载ContentProvider。需要注意，ContentProvider的onCreate要先于Application的onCreate而执行。

ContentProvider提供增删改查四个接口来操作数据源。这四个方法都是通过Binder来调用的，外界无法直接访问ContentProvider,只能通过AMS根据Uri来获取对应的ContentProvider的Binder接口IContentProvider，然后再通过IContentProvider来访问ContentProvider的数据源。
下面来分析单实例的ContentProvider的启动过程的源码。
访问ContentProvider需要通过ContentResolver(抽象类，具体实现是ApplicationContentResolver)。通过ContentProvider四个中任一方法都可以触发ContentProvider启动，这里选择query方法。
ContentProvider的query方法中，首先会获取IContentProvider对象（通过ApplicationContentResolve的acquireProvider方法实现）。
ApplicationContentResolve的acquireProvider直接调用了ActivityThread的acquireProvider。

    public final IContentProvider acquireProvider(
            Context c, String auth, int userId, boolean stable) {
        final IContentProvider provider = acquireExistingProvider(c, auth, userId, stable);
        if (provider != null) {
            return provider;
        }

        // There is a possible race here.  Another thread may try to acquire
        // the same provider at the same time.  When this happens, we want to ensure
        // that the first one wins.
        // Note that we cannot hold the lock while acquiring and installing the
        // provider since it might take a long time to run and it could also potentially
        // be re-entrant in the case where the provider is in the same process.
        IActivityManager.ContentProviderHolder holder = null;
        try {
            holder = ActivityManagerNative.getDefault().getContentProvider(
                    getApplicationThread(), auth, userId, stable);
        } catch (RemoteException ex) {
        }
        if (holder == null) {
            Slog.e(TAG, "Failed to find provider info for " + auth);
            return null;
        }

        // Install provider will increment the reference count for us, and break
        // any ties in the race.
        holder = installProvider(c, holder, holder.info,
                true /*noisy*/, holder.noReleaseNeeded, stable);
        return holder.provider;
    }

从ActivityThread中查找是否已经存在ContentProvider，存在直接返回。如果没有启动，那就发送一个进程间请求给AMS让其启动目标ContentProvider，再通过installProvider方法来修改引用计数。在AMS中首先会启动ContentProvider所在的进程，然后再启动ContentProvider。启动进程是由AMS的startProcessLocked方法完成，其内部主要通过Process的start方法来完成新进程启动，新进程启动后的入口方法为ActivityThread的main。

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Trace.traceBegin(Trace.TRACE_TAG_ACTIVITY_MANAGER, "ActivityThreadMain");
        SamplingProfilerIntegration.start();

        // CloseGuard defaults to true and can be quite spammy.  We
        // disable it here, but selectively enable it later (via
        // StrictMode) on debug builds, but using DropBox, not logs.
        CloseGuard.setEnabled(false);

        Environment.initForCurrentUser();

        // Set the reporter for event logging in libcore
        EventLogger.setReporter(new EventLoggingReporter());

        AndroidKeyStoreProvider.install();

        // Make sure TrustedCertificateStore looks in the right place for CA certificates
        final File configDir = Environment.getUserConfigDirectory(UserHandle.myUserId());
        TrustedCertificateStore.setDefaultUserDirectory(configDir);

        Process.setArgV0("<pre-initialized>");

        Looper.prepareMainLooper();

        ActivityThread thread = new ActivityThread();
        thread.attach(false);

        if (sMainThreadHandler == null) {
            sMainThreadHandler = thread.getHandler();
        }

        if (false) {
            Looper.myLooper().setMessageLogging(new
                    LogPrinter(Log.DEBUG, "ActivityThread"));
        }

        // End of event ActivityThreadMain.
        Trace.traceEnd(Trace.TRACE_TAG_ACTIVITY_MANAGER);
        Looper.loop();

        throw new RuntimeException("Main thread loop unexpectedly exited");
    }

创建ActivityThread实例并调用attach方法来进行一系列初始化，接着开始循环消息队列。
ActivityThread的attach方法会将ApplicationThread对象通过AMS的attachApplication方法跨进程传递给AMS。AMS的attachApplication调用了attachApplicationLocked，attachApplicationLocked又调用了bindApplication，这个过程也是跨进程调用。

thread.bindApplication(processName, appInfo, providers, app.instrumentationClass,
                    profilerInfo, app.instrumentationArguments, app.instrumentationWatcher,
                    app.instrumentationUiAutomationConnection, testMode, enableOpenGlTrace,
                    isRestrictedBackupMode || !normalMode, app.persistent,
                    new Configuration(mConfiguration), app.compat,
                    getCommonServicesLocked(app.isolated),
                    mCoreSettingsObserver.getCoreSettingsLocked());

ActivityThread#ApplicationThread#bindApplication

        public final void bindApplication(String processName, ApplicationInfo appInfo,
                .....
            AppBindData data = new AppBindData();
            data.processName = processName;
            data.appInfo = appInfo;
            data.providers = providers;
            data.instrumentationName = instrumentationName;
            data.instrumentationArgs = instrumentationArgs;
            data.instrumentationWatcher = instrumentationWatcher;
            data.instrumentationUiAutomationConnection = instrumentationUiConnection;
            data.debugMode = debugMode;
            data.enableOpenGlTrace = enableOpenGlTrace;
            data.restrictedBackupMode = isRestrictedBackupMode;
            data.persistent = persistent;
            data.config = config;
            data.compatInfo = compatInfo;
            data.initProfilerInfo = profilerInfo;
            sendMessage(H.BIND_APPLICATION, data);
        }

发送BIND_APPLICATION消息，调用ActivityThread的handleBindApplication方法。此方法完成了ContentProvider的创建，分为四个步骤：

创建ContextImpl和Instrumentation

ContextImpl instrContext = ContextImpl.createAppContext(this, pi);

            try {
                java.lang.ClassLoader cl = instrContext.getClassLoader();
                mInstrumentation = (Instrumentation)
                    cl.loadClass(data.instrumentationName.getClassName()).newInstance();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                throw new RuntimeException(
                    "Unable to instantiate instrumentation "
                    + data.instrumentationName + ": " + e.toString(), e);
            }

            mInstrumentation.init(this, instrContext, appContext,
                   new ComponentName(ii.packageName, ii.name), data.instrumentationWatcher,
                   data.instrumentationUiAutomationConnection);

创建Application对象

Application app = data.info.makeApplication(data.restrictedBackupMode, null);
            mInitialApplication = app;

启动当前进程的ContentProvider并调用其onCreate方法

List<ProviderInfo> providers = data.providers;
                if (providers != null) {
                    installContentProviders(app, providers);
                    // For process that contains content providers, we want to
                    // ensure that the JIT is enabled "at some point".
                    mH.sendEmptyMessageDelayed(H.ENABLE_JIT, 10*1000);
                }

    private void installContentProviders(
            Context context, List<ProviderInfo> providers) {
        final ArrayList<IActivityManager.ContentProviderHolder> results =
            new ArrayList<IActivityManager.ContentProviderHolder>();

        for (ProviderInfo cpi : providers) {
            if (DEBUG_PROVIDER) {
                StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(128);
                buf.append("Pub ");
                buf.append(cpi.authority);
                buf.append(": ");
                buf.append(cpi.name);
                Log.i(TAG, buf.toString());
            }
            IActivityManager.ContentProviderHolder cph = installProvider(context, null, cpi,
                    false /*noisy*/, true /*noReleaseNeeded*/, true /*stable*/);
            if (cph != null) {
                cph.noReleaseNeeded = true;
                results.add(cph);
            }
        }

        try {
            ActivityManagerNative.getDefault().publishContentProviders(
                getApplicationThread(), results);
        } catch (RemoteException ex) {
        }
    }

final java.lang.ClassLoader cl = c.getClassLoader();
                localProvider = (ContentProvider)cl.
                    loadClass(info.name).newInstance();
                provider = localProvider.getIContentProvider();
                if (provider == null) {
                    Slog.e(TAG, "Failed to instantiate class " +
                          info.name + " from sourceDir " +
                          info.applicationInfo.sourceDir);
                    return null;
                }
                if (DEBUG_PROVIDER) Slog.v(
                    TAG, "Instantiating local provider " + info.name);
                // XXX Need to create the correct context for this provider.
                localProvider.attachInfo(c, info);

通过类加载器完成ContentProvider对象的创建。

    private void attachInfo(Context context, ProviderInfo info, boolean testing) {
        mNoPerms = testing;

        /*
         * Only allow it to be set once, so after the content service gives
         * this to us clients can't change it.
         */
        if (mContext == null) {
            mContext = context;
            if (context != null) {
                mTransport.mAppOpsManager = (AppOpsManager) context.getSystemService(
                        Context.APP_OPS_SERVICE);
            }
            mMyUid = Process.myUid();
            if (info != null) {
                setReadPermission(info.readPermission);
                setWritePermission(info.writePermission);
                setPathPermissions(info.pathPermissions);
                mExported = info.exported;
                mSingleUser = (info.flags & ProviderInfo.FLAG_SINGLE_USER) != 0;
                setAuthorities(info.authority);
            }
            ContentProvider.this.onCreate();
        }
    }

通过ContentProvider的attachInfo来调用它的onCreate

调用Application的onCreate方法

try {
                mInstrumentation.callApplicationOnCreate(app);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                if (!mInstrumentation.onException(app, e)) {
                    throw new RuntimeException(
                        "Unable to create application " + app.getClass().getName()
                        + ": " + e.toString(), e);
                }
            }