category是如何为一个类添加属性的

 摘录自美团技术博文

我们知道在category里面是无法为category添加实例变量的。但是我们很多时候需要在category中添加和对象关联的值，这个时候可以求助关联对象来实现。

MyClass+Category1.h:

#import "MyClass.h"

@interface MyClass (Category1)

@property(nonatomic,copy) NSString *name;

@end

MyClass+Category1.m:

#import "MyClass+Category1.h"
#import <objc/runtime.h>

@implementation MyClass (Category1)

+ (void)load
{
    NSLog(@"%@",@"load in Category1");
}

- (void)setName:(NSString *)name
{
    objc_setAssociatedObject(self,
                             "name",
                             name,
                             OBJC_ASSOCIATION_COPY);
}

- (NSString*)name
{
    NSString *nameObject = objc_getAssociatedObject(self, "name");
    return nameObject;
}

@end

但是关联对象又是存在什么地方呢？ 如何存储？ 对象销毁时候如何处理关联对象呢？
我们去翻一下runtime的源码，在objc-references.mm文件中有个方法_object_set_associative_reference：

void _object_set_associative_reference(id object, void *key, id value, uintptr_t policy) {
    // retain the new value (if any) outside the lock.
    ObjcAssociation old_association(0, nil);
    id new_value = value ? acquireValue(value, policy) : nil;
    {
        AssociationsManager manager;
        AssociationsHashMap &associations(manager.associations());
        disguised_ptr_t disguised_object = DISGUISE(object);
        if (new_value) {
            // break any existing association.
            AssociationsHashMap::iterator i = associations.find(disguised_object);
            if (i != associations.end()) {
                // secondary table exists
                ObjectAssociationMap *refs = i->second;
                ObjectAssociationMap::iterator j = refs->find(key);
                if (j != refs->end()) {
                    old_association = j->second;
                    j->second = ObjcAssociation(policy, new_value);
                } else {
                    (*refs)[key] = ObjcAssociation(policy, new_value);
                }
            } else {
                // create the new association (first time).
                ObjectAssociationMap *refs = new ObjectAssociationMap;
                associations[disguised_object] = refs;
                (*refs)[key] = ObjcAssociation(policy, new_value);
                _class_setInstancesHaveAssociatedObjects(_object_getClass(object));
            }
        } else {
            // setting the association to nil breaks the association.
            AssociationsHashMap::iterator i = associations.find(disguised_object);
            if (i !=  associations.end()) {
                ObjectAssociationMap *refs = i->second;
                ObjectAssociationMap::iterator j = refs->find(key);
                if (j != refs->end()) {
                    old_association = j->second;
                    refs->erase(j);
                }
            }
        }
    }
    // release the old value (outside of the lock).
    if (old_association.hasValue()) ReleaseValue()(old_association);
}

我们可以看到所有的关联对象都由AssociationsManager管理，而AssociationsManager定义如下：

class AssociationsManager {
    static OSSpinLock _lock;
    static AssociationsHashMap *_map;               // associative references:  object pointer -> PtrPtrHashMap.
public:
    AssociationsManager()   { OSSpinLockLock(&_lock); }
    ~AssociationsManager()  { OSSpinLockUnlock(&_lock); }

    AssociationsHashMap &associations() {
        if (_map == NULL)
            _map = new AssociationsHashMap();
        return *_map;
    }
};

AssociationsManager里面是由一个静态AssociationsHashMap来存储所有的关联对象的。这相当于把所有对象的关联对象都存在一个全局map里面。而map的的key是这个对象的指针地址（任意两个不同对象的指针地址一定是不同的），而这个map的value又是另外一个AssociationsHashMap，里面保存了关联对象的kv对。
而在对象的销毁逻辑里面，见objc-runtime-new.mm:

void *objc_destructInstance(id obj) 
{
    if (obj) {
        Class isa_gen = _object_getClass(obj);
        class_t *isa = newcls(isa_gen);

        // Read all of the flags at once for performance.
        bool cxx = hasCxxStructors(isa);
        bool assoc = !UseGC && _class_instancesHaveAssociatedObjects(isa_gen);

        // This order is important.
        if (cxx) object_cxxDestruct(obj);
        if (assoc) _object_remove_assocations(obj);

        if (!UseGC) objc_clear_deallocating(obj);
    }

    return obj;
}

嗯，runtime的销毁对象函数objc_destructInstance里面会判断这个对象有没有关联对象，如果有，会调用_object_remove_assocations做关联对象的清理工作。