一个Activity多个Handler时，Message是如何传递的

最近在面试，被面试官问到如果一个Activity有多个handler时候，怎样知道handler1发送的消息不会被handler2接收，同理handler2发送的消息不会被handler1接收。

回来以后看源码才发现原来是这样的：
平时我们直接new Handler()，源码里面执行的是

 /**
     * Default constructor associates this handler with the {@link Looper} for the
     * current thread.
     *
     * If this thread does not have a looper, this handler won't be able to receive messages
     * so an exception is thrown.
     */
    public Handler() {
        this(null, false);
    }

    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;
    }

我们看到在第二段代码中，mLooper = Looper.myLooper();获取了主线程中的那个looper对象，判断mLooper==null的时候，抛出了一个异常，说明了不能在线程里面创建handler，如果必须要用的话，需要调用Looper.prepare()方法。mLooper不为null的情况下，mQueue = mLooper.mQueue，获取的是MessageQueue队列，mCallback = null,mAsynchronous = fasle;

我们顺便看一下Looper.prepare()的源码

     /** 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));
    }

可以看到当我们调用Looper.prepare()的时候，相当于new Looper(quitAllowed)了一个新Looper设置到新线程中。这样一个thread就有了一个Looper.

继续看当我们调用sendMessage的时候，我们看一下源码里面是怎么执行的：

 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);
}

“
一步一步的往下走我们看到在enqueueMessage（）方法里面有一个，
msg.target = this;这句话就是重点，就是说我们通过sendMesasge(msg)一层一层的传递消息，最后这个msg.target=this就是把当前的这个handler标记给这个当前我们发送的msg,然后再把这个打好标记的信息添加到消息队列中。

我们再看看Looper里面的源码

    /**
     * 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();
        }
    }

我们看到 msg.target.dispatchMessage(msg);这一句是，直接将这个消息交给了发送这个消息的handler处理。
继续看handler中的dispatchMessage源码：

    /**
     * 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);
        }
    }

可以看到Looper把消息分发给handler, handler最终拿到消息调用handleMessage(msg)，此时我们在前台调用的时候重写的handleMessage(msg)拿到的这个msg就是我们需要处理的Message.这样就完成了handler1把消息传递,然后把这个消息打上这个handler1的标记，最后looper再拿到打上这个handler1标记的消息，再分发给handler1,此时handler1拿到的就是它上次发送的那个消息.

因为这样就保证了一个Activity中可以有多个handler,同时handler发送消息，各自接收各自的消息，这样有序的进行，这样也不会出错。
看来得经常看看源码才能解释、理解的清楚这些机制。