How does HandlerThread work internally in Android SDK?

HandlerThread is a specialized type of thread in the Android SDK that is designed to have a Looper for its message queue. This feature makes it easy to manage and process messages or Runnable objects in a background thread while allowing you to communicate back to the main thread with ease. Essentially, HandlerThread allows you to create a dedicated thread with its own message queue, which can handle messages or execute tasks in sequential order.

When you create an instance of HandlerThread, it starts the thread, initializes a Looper, and ties it to the thread's lifecycle. You can use a Handler associated with this thread to send messages or runnables to it. Once you're done, you can quit the Looper to clean up the resources.

Example of Using HandlerThread

start();
        
        // Create a Handler associated with this thread's Looper
        $handler = new Handler(Looper::getMainLooper());
        
        // Example task running in background thread
        $handler->post(new Runnable() {
            public function run() {
                // Do background work here
                echo "Background task is running.";
                
                // When done, quit the looper
                $this->quitSafely();
            }
        });
    }
}

$myThread = new MyHandlerThread();
$myThread->startThread();
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