1、先看一下Adapter的继承关系：

2、Adapter的实现原理其实就是一个观察者模式的应用。先上一幅简图：

3、首先看观察者抽象类：DataSetObserver，它有两个方法onChange()和onInvalidated()，源码：

public abstract class DataSetObserver {
    /**
     * This method is called when the entire data set has changed,
     * most likely through a call to {@link Cursor#requery()} on a {@link Cursor}.
     */
    public void onChanged() {
        // Do nothing
    }

    /**
     * This method is called when the entire data becomes invalid,
     * most likely through a call to {@link Cursor#deactivate()} or {@link Cursor#close()} on a
     * {@link Cursor}.
     */
    public void onInvalidated() {
        // Do nothing
    }
}

4、被观察者抽象类Observable，提供了注册观察者、注销观察者和清空观察者的方法。

public abstract class Observable<T> {
    /**
     * The list of observers.  An observer can be in the list at most
     * once and will never be null.
     */
    protected final ArrayList<T> mObservers = new ArrayList<T>();

    /**
     * Adds an observer to the list. The observer cannot be null and it must not already
     * be registered.
     * @param observer the observer to register
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException the observer is null
     * @throws IllegalStateException the observer is already registered
     */
    public void registerObserver(T observer) {
        if (observer == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("The observer is null.");
        }
        synchronized(mObservers) {
            if (mObservers.contains(observer)) {
                throw new IllegalStateException("Observer " + observer + " is already registered.");
            }
            mObservers.add(observer);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Removes a previously registered observer. The observer must not be null and it
     * must already have been registered.
     * @param observer the observer to unregister
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException the observer is null
     * @throws IllegalStateException the observer is not yet registered
     */
    public void unregisterObserver(T observer) {
        if (observer == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("The observer is null.");
        }
        synchronized(mObservers) {
            int index = mObservers.indexOf(observer);
            if (index == -1) {
                throw new IllegalStateException("Observer " + observer + " was not registered.");
            }
            mObservers.remove(index);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Remove all registered observers.
     */
    public void unregisterAll() {
        synchronized(mObservers) {
            mObservers.clear();
        }
    }
}

该抽象类有一个继承类DataSetObservable，新增了两个方法，notifyChanged()和notifyInvalidated()用来提醒观察者更新操作。

public class DataSetObservable extends Observable<DataSetObserver> {
    /**
     * Invokes {@link DataSetObserver#onChanged} on each observer.
     * Called when the contents of the data set have changed.  The recipient
     * will obtain the new contents the next time it queries the data set.
     */
    public void notifyChanged() {
        synchronized(mObservers) {
            // since onChanged() is implemented by the app, it could do anything, including
            // removing itself from {@link mObservers} - and that could cause problems if
            // an iterator is used on the ArrayList {@link mObservers}.
            // to avoid such problems, just march thru the list in the reverse order.
            for (int i = mObservers.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
                mObservers.get(i).onChanged();
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * Invokes {@link DataSetObserver#onInvalidated} on each observer.
     * Called when the data set is no longer valid and cannot be queried again,
     * such as when the data set has been closed.
     */
    public void notifyInvalidated() {
        synchronized (mObservers) {
            for (int i = mObservers.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
                mObservers.get(i).onInvalidated();
            }
        }
    }
}

5、Adapter基类的部分代码：

public interface Adapter {
    /**
     * Register an observer that is called when changes happen to the data used by this adapter.
     *
     * @param observer the object that gets notified when the data set changes.
     */
    void registerDataSetObserver(DataSetObserver observer);

    /**
     * Unregister an observer that has previously been registered with this
     * adapter via {@link #registerDataSetObserver}.
     *
     * @param observer the object to unregister.
     */
    void unregisterDataSetObserver(DataSetObserver observer);
}

可以看到有注册观察者和注销观察者的方法。

6、来看一下BaseAdapter的部分代码：

public abstract class BaseAdapter implements ListAdapter, SpinnerAdapter {
    private final DataSetObservable mDataSetObservable = new DataSetObservable();

    public void registerDataSetObserver(DataSetObserver observer) {
        mDataSetObservable.registerObserver(observer);
    }

    public void unregisterDataSetObserver(DataSetObserver observer) {
        mDataSetObservable.unregisterObserver(observer);
    }

    /**
     * Notifies the attached observers that the underlying data has been changed
     * and any View reflecting the data set should refresh itself.
     */
    public void notifyDataSetChanged() {
        mDataSetObservable.notifyChanged();
    }

    /**
     * Notifies the attached observers that the underlying data is no longer valid
     * or available. Once invoked this adapter is no longer valid and should
     * not report further data set changes.
     */
    public void notifyDataSetInvalidated() {
        mDataSetObservable.notifyInvalidated();
    }
}

可以看到，内部有个被观察者变量DataSetObservable，注册和注销观察者的方法，还有我们熟悉的notifyDataSetChanged()和notifyDataSetInvalidated()方法。我们通过ListView.setAdapter(Adapter adapter)来设置适配器，该适配器则通过notifyDataSetChanged()和notifyDataSetInvalidated()方法来通知被观察者调用相应的notifyChanged（）和notifyInvalidated（）去做更新操作。

7、附上ListView.setAdapter（）的代码：

 @Override
    public void setAdapter(ListAdapter adapter) {
        if (mAdapter != null && mDataSetObserver != null) {
            mAdapter.unregisterDataSetObserver(mDataSetObserver);
        }

        resetList();
        mRecycler.clear();

        if (mHeaderViewInfos.size() > 0|| mFooterViewInfos.size() > 0) {
            mAdapter = new HeaderViewListAdapter(mHeaderViewInfos, mFooterViewInfos, adapter);
        } else {
            mAdapter = adapter;
        }

        mOldSelectedPosition = INVALID_POSITION;
        mOldSelectedRowId = INVALID_ROW_ID;

        // AbsListView#setAdapter will update choice mode states.
        super.setAdapter(adapter);

        if (mAdapter != null) {
            mAreAllItemsSelectable = mAdapter.areAllItemsEnabled();
            mOldItemCount = mItemCount;
            mItemCount = mAdapter.getCount();
            checkFocus();

            mDataSetObserver = new AdapterDataSetObserver();
            mAdapter.registerDataSetObserver(mDataSetObserver);

            mRecycler.setViewTypeCount(mAdapter.getViewTypeCount());

            int position;
            if (mStackFromBottom) {
                position = lookForSelectablePosition(mItemCount - 1, false);
            } else {
                position = lookForSelectablePosition(0, true);
            }
            setSelectedPositionInt(position);
            setNextSelectedPositionInt(position);

            if (mItemCount == 0) {
                // Nothing selected
                checkSelectionChanged();
            }
        } else {
            mAreAllItemsSelectable = true;
            checkFocus();
            // Nothing selected
            checkSelectionChanged();
        }

        requestLayout();
    }

注意到下面两句：
mDataSetObserver = new AdapterDataSetObserver();
mAdapter.registerDataSetObserver(mDataSetObserver);

这个观察者是重新实例化了一个AdapterDataSetObserver类的对象，AdapterDataSetObserver类是AbsListView的一个内部类。

class AdapterDataSetObserver extends AdapterView<ListAdapter>.AdapterDataSetObserver {
        @Override
        public void onChanged() {
            super.onChanged();
            if (mFastScroll != null) {
                mFastScroll.onSectionsChanged();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onInvalidated() {
            super.onInvalidated();
            if (mFastScroll != null) {
                mFastScroll.onSectionsChanged();
            }
        }
    }

可以看到，更新时，又调用了父类的方法，来看看父类在更新时具体的操作。AdapterDataSetObserver类是AdapterView的一个内部类：

class AdapterDataSetObserver extends DataSetObserver {

        private Parcelable mInstanceState = null;

        @Override
        public void onChanged() {
            mDataChanged = true;
            mOldItemCount = mItemCount;
            mItemCount = getAdapter().getCount();

            // Detect the case where a cursor that was previously invalidated has
            // been repopulated with new data.
            if (AdapterView.this.getAdapter().hasStableIds() && mInstanceState != null
                    && mOldItemCount == 0 && mItemCount > 0) {
                AdapterView.this.onRestoreInstanceState(mInstanceState);
                mInstanceState = null;
            } else {
                rememberSyncState();
            }
            checkFocus();
            requestLayout();
        }

        @Override
        public void onInvalidated() {
            mDataChanged = true;

            if (AdapterView.this.getAdapter().hasStableIds()) {
                // Remember the current state for the case where our hosting activity is being
                // stopped and later restarted
                mInstanceState = AdapterView.this.onSaveInstanceState();
            }

            // Data is invalid so we should reset our state
            mOldItemCount = mItemCount;
            mItemCount = 0;
            mSelectedPosition = INVALID_POSITION;
            mSelectedRowId = INVALID_ROW_ID;
            mNextSelectedPosition = INVALID_POSITION;
            mNextSelectedRowId = INVALID_ROW_ID;
            mNeedSync = false;

            checkFocus();
            requestLayout();
        }

        public void clearSavedState() {
            mInstanceState = null;
        }
    }

可以看到，最后是调用了 requestLayout()来更新界面以达到更新数据的目的。

8、最后，Adapter和ListView是怎样实现数据更新的呢，平时我们是通过getView()来返回一个item的view给ListView，但是又在何时调用呢，首先来查看一下ListView的onMeasure()源码：

@Override
    protected void onMeasure(int widthMeasureSpec, int heightMeasureSpec) {
        // Sets up mListPadding
        super.onMeasure(widthMeasureSpec, heightMeasureSpec);

        final int widthMode = MeasureSpec.getMode(widthMeasureSpec);
        final int heightMode = MeasureSpec.getMode(heightMeasureSpec);
        int widthSize = MeasureSpec.getSize(widthMeasureSpec);
        int heightSize = MeasureSpec.getSize(heightMeasureSpec);

        int childWidth = 0;
        int childHeight = 0;
        int childState = 0;

        mItemCount = mAdapter == null ? 0 : mAdapter.getCount();
        if (mItemCount > 0 && (widthMode == MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED
                || heightMode == MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED)) {
            final View child = obtainView(0, mIsScrap);

            // Lay out child directly against the parent measure spec so that
            // we can obtain exected minimum width and height.
            measureScrapChild(child, 0, widthMeasureSpec, heightSize);

            childWidth = child.getMeasuredWidth();
            childHeight = child.getMeasuredHeight();
            childState = combineMeasuredStates(childState, child.getMeasuredState());

            if (recycleOnMeasure() && mRecycler.shouldRecycleViewType(
                    ((LayoutParams) child.getLayoutParams()).viewType)) {
                mRecycler.addScrapView(child, 0);
            }
        }

        if (widthMode == MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED) {
            widthSize = mListPadding.left + mListPadding.right + childWidth +
                    getVerticalScrollbarWidth();
        } else {
            widthSize |= (childState & MEASURED_STATE_MASK);
        }

        if (heightMode == MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED) {
            heightSize = mListPadding.top + mListPadding.bottom + childHeight +
                    getVerticalFadingEdgeLength() * 2;
        }

        if (heightMode == MeasureSpec.AT_MOST) {
            // TODO: after first layout we should maybe start at the first visible position, not 0
            heightSize = measureHeightOfChildren(widthMeasureSpec, 0, NO_POSITION, heightSize, -1);
        }

        setMeasuredDimension(widthSize, heightSize);

        mWidthMeasureSpec = widthMeasureSpec;
    }

可以注意到final View child = obtainView(0, mIsScrap);查看一下obtainView（）这个方法的部分源码，这个方法在AbsListView类里面：

View obtainView(int position, boolean[] isScrap) {
        Trace.traceBegin(Trace.TRACE_TAG_VIEW, "obtainView");

        isScrap[0] = false;

        // Check whether we have a transient state view. Attempt to re-bind the
        // data and discard the view if we fail.
        final View transientView = mRecycler.getTransientStateView(position);
        if (transientView != null) {
            final LayoutParams params = (LayoutParams) transientView.getLayoutParams();

            // If the view type hasn't changed, attempt to re-bind the data.
            if (params.viewType == mAdapter.getItemViewType(position)) {
                final View updatedView = mAdapter.getView(position, transientView, this);

                // If we failed to re-bind the data, scrap the obtained view.
                if (updatedView != transientView) {
                    setItemViewLayoutParams(updatedView, position);
                    mRecycler.addScrapView(updatedView, position);
                }
            }

            isScrap[0] = true;

            // Finish the temporary detach started in addScrapView().
            transientView.dispatchFinishTemporaryDetach();
            return transientView;
        }
}

注意到final View updatedView = mAdapter.getView(position, transientView, this);这句话，我们的getView()就是在这里被调用的。

综上所述，Adapter的大概原理基本就是这样实现的。