[zeromq-dev] proper way to handle messages with c structures

[Andrew Simpson]

I am modifying an existing application to use ZMQ to send/receive the
data.  The application is written in C on RHEL 6.6, using ZMQ 4.0.5.  I am
using router-dealer socket types.  I do have the messages coming through
right now, but I do not think I am doing this in the best possible way:

The application consists of a "server" and multiple "client" applications.
These are separate binaries, not threads.

I am setting the ID on the Dealer socket for each client application.  A
message containing a C structure is passed from the client to the server.

An example C struct that I use:

struct InitMsg {
  char myName[10];
  int myUUID;
  int someVar;
  short someOtherVar;
};


The Client is the Dealer, server is the router socket.

METHOD 1:
Client sends the message:
zmq_send(serverSocket, &InitMsg, sizeof(InitMsg), 0);

On the server side, I do the following:
1.  zmq_recv once to get the ID of the client
2.  call a second zmq_recv to get the message from the client.

while the above seems to be working, It seems that I should be using
something more like:
METHOD 2:
client:
zmq_msg_t newMsg;
zmq_msg_init (&newMsg);
zmq_msg_copy (&newMsg, &InitMsg);
zmq_msg_send (&newMsg, serverSocket, 0);

server:
zmq_msg_t *msg;
zmq_msg_init(&msg);
zmq_msg_recv(&msg, clientSocket, 0);


I'm looking for a recommendation about the best/most efficient way to
handle sending/receiving c structures and I've gotten a little confused
about everything :(  There appears to be many ways to do this.  I have no
problem working directly with zmq objects/frames, etc... but if
zmq_recv.zmq_send is just as efficient, I'm fine with it.

A few additional questions:
1. After reading the guide and examples, does the second method above
handle getting the id, delimiter, and the message all in one?
2. Am I correct in that a router/dealer pattern, that the send is always:
ID, delimiter, message?

Thanks for all your help.

Drew
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