BMC AMI DevX Workbench Explorer

Overview

BMC AMI DevX Workbench Explorer (DevX Explorer) allows developers to gain access to mainframe application development resources through our Host Communications Interface (HCI) in VS Code. The Explorer extension allows you to connect to the HCI using both secure and unsecure connections, providing quick access to mainframe resources and the ability to search and filter data sets and members.

Developers can browse and edit code using the Lock Acquiring Mechanism that enables them to edit the program and still maintain the integrity of their code and avoid code merge issues. They can also leverage automatic download of copybooks and refresh them on demand. Users can also perform various data set and member operations (i.e., delete, rename, allocate, refresh, recall), as well as submit Job Control Language (JCL) and monitor job status using Job Explorer.

What’s New

Initial release

• Data Set Explorer

  • Manage connections to mainframe systems (create/edit/delete/ Log In & Log Out)
  • Search for z/OS assets like data sets, members using search criteria
  • Browse, edit, and save PDS or sequential data set members
  • Data set operations
    • Allocate and Allocate Like PDS, PDSE and sequential data set
    • Recall, refresh, delete, view properties of data set
    • Data set member features like new, rename and delete member
    • Submit JCL from a sequential data set or PDS member
    • Submit JCL from active editor
    • Copy data set to same host by rename
    • Cross LPAR copy
    • Copy multiple members with options
    • Refresh HCI connection to get updates
    • COBOL Copybook support

• Settings for improved usability

  • Setting to control how data sets and members are opened in editor. User will be provided with 3 options as browse, edit and prompt
  • Copybooks: Ability to configure copybook data sets to use for looking up copybooks when editing in IBM Z Open Editor
  • Job Explorer: Limit number of jobs to be displayed
  • Job Explorer: Configuration to show/hide job column display

• Miscellaneous

  • Enable tracing and collect logs
  • Session Management
  • Telemetry reporting

• Job Explorer features

  • List jobs filtered based on prefix and owner
  • View the contents of an output file for a job/spool
  • Cancel one or multiple jobs
  • Purge one or multiple jobs
  • Refresh job to get latest updates
  • Extract JCL from a job
  • Resubmit job

Prerequisites

• Required: Visual Studio Code version 1.92.1 or above

• Recommended: IBM Z Open Editor version 4.4.0 to provide language support for IBM Enterprise programming languages for z/OS® like COBOL, PL/I, Assembler etc. and for better user experience with respect to the following features

  • Real-time syntax checking and highlighting while you type
  • Problems view with all syntax errors and (in COBOL) unreachable code
  • Navigate to copybook and include file sources
  • Previewing of included copybooks and include files, as well as assembler macros

  Important: Please ensure you disable/uncheck the below setting in IBM Z Open Editor Zopeneditor › Zapp: Generate Zapp On Demand in order for the copybook feature to work seamlessly.

Release Notes

23.1.00

Added support for downloading PL/1 copybooks, cut/paste data set members, multi-selection when performing recall, and delete data sets and members. New enhancements in Job explorer.