深入理解Looper、MessageQueue、Handler之间的关系，Android的异步消息机制

一、Android的异步消息机制是处理线程之间的通信交互的重要机制。

二、首先在当前线程中调用Looper.prepare()方法，实例化Looper对象，与MessageQueue()对象，并将Looper对象保存到当前线程中，调用Looper.loop()方法，让Looper对象不断取消息队列中的消息。

1、实例化Looper对象与MessageQueue对象。
1、Looper.prepare()方法。

 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));
    }

2、Looper.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();
        }
    }

2、Handler实例化时与当前线程中的Looper对象进行关联，进行关联到MessageQueue对象。

 public Handler(Callback callback, boolean async) {
        if (FIND_POTENTIAL_LEAKS) {
            final Class<? extends Handler> 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;
    }

3、handler发送消息时，调用sendMessageAtTime方法，将handler当做Message的Traget属性保存到MessageQueue中，由Looper.loop()中的msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg);方法调用去handlerMessage()。

1、sendMessageAtTime方法。

 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);
    }

2、dispatchMessage方法。

/**
* 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);
}
}

注意事项：
1、Looper.prepare()方法只能调用一次，执行在当前线程之前。
2、Handler post
今天有人问我，你说Handler的post方法创建的线程和UI线程有什么关系？
其实这个问题也是出现这篇博客的原因之一；这里需要说明，有时候为了方便，我们会直接写如下代码：
[java] view plain copy 在CODE上查看代码片派生到我的代码片
mHandler.post(new Runnable()
{
@Override
public void run()
{
Log.e(“TAG”, Thread.currentThread().getName());
mTxt.setText(“yoxi”);
}
});

然后run方法中可以写更新UI的代码，其实这个Runnable并没有创建什么线程，而是发送了一条消息，下面看源码：
[java] view plain copy 在CODE上查看代码片派生到我的代码片
public final boolean post(Runnable r)
{
return sendMessageDelayed(getPostMessage(r), 0);
}
[java] view plain copy 在CODE上查看代码片派生到我的代码片
private static Message getPostMessage(Runnable r) {
Message m = Message.obtain();
m.callback = r;
return m;
}

可以看到，在getPostMessage中，得到了一个Message对象，然后将我们创建的Runable对象作为callback属性，赋值给了此message.
注：产生一个Message对象，可以new ，也可以使用Message.obtain()方法；两者都可以，但是更建议使用obtain方法，因为Message内部维护了一个Message池用于Message的复用，避免使用new 重新分配内存。