IBM Early Development Testing Extension Pack

The IBM Early Development Testing Extension Pack brings together a curated set of IBM and community extensions that give mainframe application developers a fully integrated development and testing workflow.

What's Included

This extension pack installs the following extensions automatically:

Features

Unified Mainframe Development Environment

Install a single pack to get everything you need for Enterprise COBOL z/OS development, unit testing, and debugging — no manual hunting for individual extensions.

Edit Mainframe Languages with Confidence

IBM Z Open Editor delivers rich language intelligence for COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, JCL, and REXX, including:

• Syntax highlighting and error diagnostics
• Code completion and hover documentation
• Go-to-definition and find-all-references

Connect to z/OS Seamlessly

Zowe Explorer provides a familiar VS Code tree view to browse and edit:

• Partitioned and sequential data sets
• UNIX System Services files
• JES job queues and spool output

Debug Programs Interactively

IBM Z Open Debug lets you set breakpoints, step through the COBOL, and inspect variables — all from the standard VS Code Debug panel, connected to a running z/OS system.

Measure and Visualize Code Coverage

IBM Compiled Code Coverage integrates coverage data generated by your z/OS unit test runs and highlights covered and uncovered lines directly in the source editor.

Accelerate Testing with IBM Early Development Testing

The IBM Early Development Testing Extension is the centerpiece of this pack:

• Run automated unit tests for mainframe programs.
• View unit test results and execution history inline.
• Manage and navigate unit test artifacts.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.109.0 or later
• see the Extensions in the pack for individual other requiremments.

Getting Started

1. Install this extension pack from the VS Code Marketplace or by running:

   ext install ibm.ibm-early-development-testing-extension-pack
   

2. Open the Zowe Explorer side panel and create a connection profile for your z/OS system.
3. Configure the IBM Early Development Testing Extension (see the early Development Testing extension README and quick start documentation in https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/test-accelerator-for-z/3.x?topic=z-quick-start-early-development-testing-vs-code for detailed setup instructions).
4. Open a COBOL or PL/I source file — language features from IBM Z Open Editor activate automatically.
5. Use the Run and Debug panel to start a debug session with IBM Z Open Debug.

Extension Settings

Each bundled extension exposes its own settings. Refer to the individual extension pages linked in the table above for the full list of configuration options. Read more details at https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/test-accelerator-for-z/3.x?topic=testing-configuring-early-development Common settings you are likely to configure first:

• Zowe: team configuration file and profiles
• Z Open Editor: Java settings and ZAPP unit test and code coverage profile
• Early Development Testing extension settings

Feedback and Support

• Documentation: Refer to the IBM Documentation for IBM Early Development Testing Extension Pack at https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/test-accelerator-for-z/3.x?topic=testing-installing-early-development-extension-pack
• IBM Support: Contact IBM Support for production issues under your software entitlement