render

• Vue.prototype._render 定义在 renderMixin

renderMixin(Vue) 在 /src/core/instance/index.js 调用

export function renderMixin (Vue: Class<Component>) {
  // install runtime convenience helpers
  installRenderHelpers(Vue.prototype)

  Vue.prototype.$nextTick = function (fn: Function) {
    return nextTick(fn, this)
  }

  Vue.prototype._render = function (): VNode {
    const vm: Component = this
    const { render, _parentVnode } = vm.$options

    if (_parentVnode) {
      vm.$scopedSlots = normalizeScopedSlots(
        _parentVnode.data.scopedSlots,
        vm.$slots,
        vm.$scopedSlots
      )
    }

    // set parent vnode. this allows render functions to have access
    // to the data on the placeholder node.
    vm.$vnode = _parentVnode
    // render self
    let vnode
    try {
      // There's no need to maintain a stack because all render fns are called
      // separately from one another. Nested component's render fns are called
      // when parent component is patched.
      currentRenderingInstance = vm
      vnode = render.call(vm._renderProxy, vm.$createElement)
    } catch (e) {
      handleError(e, vm, `render`)
      // return error render result,
      // or previous vnode to prevent render error causing blank component
      /* istanbul ignore else */
      if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && vm.$options.renderError) {
        try {
          vnode = vm.$options.renderError.call(vm._renderProxy, vm.$createElement, e)
        } catch (e) {
          handleError(e, vm, `renderError`)
          vnode = vm._vnode
        }
      } else {
        vnode = vm._vnode
      }
    } finally {
      currentRenderingInstance = null
    }
    // if the returned array contains only a single node, allow it
    if (Array.isArray(vnode) && vnode.length === 1) {
      vnode = vnode[0]
    }
    // return empty vnode in case the render function errored out
    if (!(vnode instanceof VNode)) {
      if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && Array.isArray(vnode)) {
        warn(
          'Multiple root nodes returned from render function. Render function ' +
          'should return a single root node.',
          vm
        )
      }
      vnode = createEmptyVNode()
    }
    // set parent
    vnode.parent = _parentVnode
    return vnode
  }
}

• 核心是调用 vm.$createElement 方法生成 vnode

vnode = render.call(vm._renderProxy, vm.$createElement)

// 定义
vm.$createElement = (a, b, c, d) => createElement(vm, a, b, c, d, true)
// createElement 定义在 src/core/vdom/create-element.js