IBM Z Open Editor installs statistics

IBM Z® Open Editor

IBM Z Open Editor is an extension for Visual Studio Code that provides language support for the IBM® Enterprise COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, and (all new!) JCL languages.

Go here for the full Documentation online.

Simplify your installation experience by using newly bundled extension packs that contain Z Open Editor as well as other extensions available for IDzEE and ADFz customers.

This extension provides language support for the IBM Enterprise programming languages for z/OS®. It supports COBOL v6.5, PL/I v6.2, High Level Assembler for z/OS 3.2, TSO/E REXX, and z/OS MVS Job Control Language (JCL). This also includes capabilities for embedded statements in COBOL and PL/I for CICS 6.3, IMS 15.1.0 and SQL DB2 for z/OS 12.1. Earlier versions of any of these components will also work. IBM Z Open Editor realizes its language support by implementing fully functional language servers together with additional editor enhancements that enable IBM Z developers to utilize features such as

• Real-time syntax checking and highlighting while you type • Problems view with all syntax errors and (in COBOL) unreachable code • Outline view and outline search • For both variables and paragraphs: • Declaration hovers • Peek definition • Go to definition • Find all references • Code and variable completion • Finding and navigating references • Previewing of included copybooks and include files as well as assembler macros • Navigate to copybook and include file sources • Refactoring such as "rename symbol" • Custom code snippet support and more than 200 high value code snippets for COBOL, PL/I, and JCL out of the box • Search and replace refactoring across multiple program files

To learn more about the IBM Z Open Editor extension's capabilities, we suggest that you walk through our documentation and try it with the example repository provided on GitHub.

To interact with z/OS, this extension also automatically co-installs the Zowe Explorer VS Code Extension. This extension can be used to edit COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, and JCL files opened on z/OS MVS™ and USS using the Zowe extension's Data Sets and USS views. It can even run JCL jobs via right-click and let's you download and browse job spool files.

IBM Z Open Editor v4 and beyond introduced advanced features that go beyond program editing! While the core Z Open Editor continues to provide full language support for COBOL, PL/I, REXX, JCL and HLASM for free, the advanced features add enterprise-level development capabilities that go beyond program editing.

You can purchase the required licenses through IBM Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition, IBM Developer for z/OS Select, or IBM Application Delivery Foundation for z/OS.

All new users of Z Open Editor receive a 90-day evaluation trial for all the advanced capabilities. After the trial period, these capabilities require activation through either an RSE API server connection or imported activation kits, as described in Activating advanced capabilities. Only the following features documented in this section require such a license.

For IBM Developer for z/OS Select customers the advanced features available are

1. Remote Connection Emulator: Open a 3270 emulator hosted on the RSE API server by right-clicking a Zowe Explorer RSE API profile. The emulator opens in either a VS Code panel or an external browser, depending on your preference. 1. z/OS Resources table: An all-new, feature-rich view that extends Zowe Explorer with a sortable table. Gain insights into your jobs, data sets, and UNIX files by listing, filtering, and sorting on many available properties. 1. Data Elements view: Use this view to display information about the data elements in a COBOL or PL/I program, including those from copybooks and include files, in a table that can be sorted and filtered. 1. Program Control Flow Browser: Use this view to display the control flow of a COBOL or PL/I program in an interactive graph. 1. Data flow graph browser for COBOL: Display the data flow of a data element in a COBOL program in an interactive graph. You can use this feature to examine how a data element is populated, modified, or written elsewhere. 1. Preprocessor support for COBOL and PL/I: Run a preprocessor either on a local workstation or remotely on z/OS, driven by a new ZAPP profile type. Continue to edit with full syntax checks except for the preprocessor statements, and automatically rerun the preprocessor each time you save. Compare the preprocessor generated code with the code side-by-side. 1. HLASM macros support: Use custom macro resolution in HLASM programs with references to macros in local files. The HLASM editor provides hovers, document links, go to definition, and code completion for macros. This feature supports one or more macro declarations per include file by pre-scanning macro files, provided they are found in local ZAPP property groups. 1. Language Detection for data set members: Use Zowe Explorer with RSE API profiles to detect the programming language of a data set member opened in the editor.

IBM Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition or IBM Application Delivery Foundation for z/OS customers can use in addition to the features above also…

Description from the VS Code Marketplace listing.