Zowe Explorer

Zowe Explorer is a sub-project of Zowe, focusing on modernizing mainframe experience. Zowe is a project hosted by the Open Mainframe Project, a Linux Foundation project.

The Zowe Explorer extension modernizes the way developers and system administrators interact with z/OS mainframes by:

• Enabling you to create, modify, rename, copy, and upload data sets directly to a z/OS mainframe.
• Enabling you to create, modify, rename, and upload USS files directly to a z/OS mainframe.
• Providing a more streamlined way to access data sets, uss files and jobs.
• Letting you create, edit, and delete Zowe CLI zosmf compatible profiles.
• Letting you use the Secure Credential Store plug-in to store your credentials securely in the settings.

More information:

• For the complete Zowe Explorer documentation, see Zowe Docs.
• Join the #zowe-explorer channel on Slack to stay in touch with the Zowe community.

Contents

• What's new in Zowe Explorer 1.7.0
• Prerequisites
• Getting Started
• Credentials Security
• Usage Tips
• Extending Zowe Explorer

What's new in Zowe Explorer 1.8.0

New features and improvements:

• Added a webpack that works with localization and logging.
• Allowed extenders to load the saved profile sessions upon activation.
• Added an automatic re-validation for invalid profiles.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed the bug related to saving USS files.
• Fixed the bug related to the deletion of datasets.

For more information, see Changelog.

Prerequisites

• Install Node.js v8.0 or later.
• Configure TSO/E address space services, z/OS data set, file REST interface and z/OS jobs REST interface. For more information, see z/OS Requirements.
• Create a Zowe Explorer profile.

Getting Started

Create a profile, review the sample use cases to familiarize yourself with the capabilities of Zowe Explorer, and you are ready to use Zowe Explorer.

Create Profile

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Hover over DATA SETS, USS, or JOBS.
3. Click the + icon.
4. Select Create a New Connection to z/OS. The user name and password fields are optional before you started to use a profile.
5. Follow the instructions, and enter all required information to complete the profile creation.

You can now use all the functionalities of the extension.

Sample use cases

Review the following use cases to understand how to work with data sets in Zowe Explorer. For the complete list of features including USS and jobs, see Zowe Explorer Sample Use Cases.

• View data sets and use multiple filters: View multiple data sets simultaneously and apply filters to show specified data sets.
• Refresh the data set list: Refresh the list of pre-filtered data sets.
• Rename data sets: Rename specified data sets.
• Copy data sets: Copy specified data sets and members.
• Download, edit, and upload existing PDS members: You can instantly pull data sets and data set members from the mainframe, edit them, and upload back.
• Prevent merge conflicts: The save option includes a compare mechanism letting you resolve potential merge conflicts.
• Create data sets and data set members: Create a new data set and data set members.
• Delete data set member and a data set: Delete a chosen data set member or an entire data set.
• View and access multiple profiles simultaneously: Work with data sets from multiple profiles.

View data sets and use multiple filters

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Open the DATA SETS bar.
3. Hover over the profile that you want to apply the filter to.
4. Click the magnifying glass icon.
5. Enter a pattern you want to create a filter for. The data sets that match your pattern(s) are displayed in the explorer tree.

Tip: To provide multiple filters, separate entries with a comma. You can append or postpend any filter with an *, which indicates wildcard searching. You cannot enter an * as the entire pattern.

Refresh the list of data sets

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Click Refresh All button (circular arrow icon) on the right of the DATA SETS explorer bar.

Rename data sets

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Open the DATA SETS bar.
3. Select a data set you want to rename.
4. Right-click the data set and select the Rename Data Set option.
5. Change the name of the data set.

Copy data sets

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Open the DATA SETS bar.
3. Select a member you want to copy.
4. Right-click the member and select the Copy Data Set option.
5. Right-click the data set where the member belongs and select the Paste Data Set option.
6. Enter the name of the copied member.

Download, edit, and upload existing PDS members

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.

2. Open the DATA SETS bar.

3. Open a profile.

4. Click the PDS member (or PS) that you want to download.

   Note: To view the members of a PDS, click the PDS to expand the tree.

   The PDS member is displayed in the text editor window of VSC.

5. Edit the document.

6. Navigate back to the PDS member (or PS) in the explorer tree, and click the Save button.

Your PDS member (or PS) is uploaded.

Note: If someone else has made changes to the PDS member (or PS) while you were editing it, you can merge your conflicts before uploading to the mainframe.

Use the save option to prevent merge conflicts

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Open the DATA SETS bar.
3. Open a member of a data set you want to edit.
4. Edit a data set.
5. Press Ctrl+S or Command+S (OSx) to save you changes.
6. (Optional) Resolve merge conflicts if necessary.

Create a new PDS and a PDS member

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Open the DATA SETS bar.
3. Click the Create New Data Set button to create a PDS.
4. From the drop-down menu, select the type of PDS that you want to create.
5. Enter a name for the PDS. The PDS is created.
6. To create a member, right-click the PDS and select Create New Member.
7. Enter a name for the member. The member is created.

Delete a PDS member and PDS

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.

2. Open the DATA SETS bar.

3. Open the profile and PDS containing the member.

4. Right-click on the PDS member that you want to delete and select Delete Member.

5. Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes on the drop-down menu.

   Note: Alternatively, you can select 'No' to cancel the deletion.

6. To delete a PDS, right-click the PDS and click Delete PDS, then confirm the deletion.

   Note: You can delete a PDS before you delete its members.

View and access multiple profiles simultaneously

1. Navigate to the explorer tree.
2. Open the DATA SETS bar.
3. Click the Add Profile button on the right of the DATA SET explorer bar.
4. Select the profile that you want to add to the view as illustrated by the following screen.

Credentials Security

Store your credentials securely with the Secure Credentials Store (SCS) plug-in.

1. Navigate to the VSCode settings.
2. Open Zowe Explorer Settings.
3. Add the Zowe-Plugin value to the Zowe Security entry field.
4. Restart VSCode.

For more information about SCS, see Secure Credential Store Plug-in for Zowe Explorer.

Usage tips

• Use the Add Favorite feature to permanently store chosen data sets, USS files, and jobs in the Favorites folder. Right-click on a data set, USS file or jobs and select Add Favorite.

• Syntax Highlighting: Zowe Explorer supports syntax highlighting for data sets. Fox example, you can use such extensions as COBOL Language Support or HLASM Language Support.

• Edit a profile: Click the pencil icon next to the magnifying glass icon in the explorer tree, and modify the information inside your profile.

• Delete a profile: Right-click a chosen profile and select Delete Profile to permanently delete the profile. The functionality deletes a profile from your .zowe folder.

• Hide a profile: You can hide a profile from the profile tree by right-clicking the profile and selecting the Hide Profile option. To add the profile back, click the + button and select the profile from the quick pick list.

For information how to configure Zowe Explorer, see Zowe Explorer Configuration guidelines.

Extending Zowe Explorer

You can add new functionalities to Zowe Explorer by creating your own extension. For more information, see Extensions for Zowe Explorer.

Tip: View an example of a Zowe Explorer extension — Zowe Explorer FTP extension documentation.