Viewing a remote file

Before you begin

You can choose the default editor action for MVS files by setting the Default action for opening MVS files preference on the MVS Files preference page. This preference setting determines whether a file is opened for editing, viewing, or browsing when you double-click the file name. If you drag a file from the Remote Systems view to the editor, however, the file is opened in edit mode in the default editor that is associated with the file extension. Setting the Default action for opening MVS Files preference does not change this behavior.

About this task

Use the View action to open a remote file in an editor without locking the file.1
Note: To open the file in read-only mode, you can use the Browse action. To edit the file and obtain a lock on the file, you can use the Open or Open With action.

You can see the lock status of a remote file by looking in the Properties view for the file. A locked file shows a user ID in the Lock Owner row of the properties table. An unlocked file shows no user ID in this row.

Procedure

To view a remote file:

  1. In the Remote Systems view, right-click the sequential data set or partitioned data set member name and click View.2 The file opens in the default editor. The Lock Owner field of the Properties view remains empty or, if another user locked the file, shows the user ID of that user.
  2. Change the file, if necessary. Some editor actions that require automatic saves, such as Save and Syntax Check and Refactor, are disabled when you open a file by using the View action.
  3. Close the file. If you changed the file, you are prompted to save it by using the Save As window for the editor in which the file was opened.3
Parent topic: Viewing properties of the MVS Files subsystem
Related tasks:
Setting preferences for MVS Files subsystems
1 For IDz users, the View action opens a file in the z Systems LPEX Editor, COBOL Editor, or PL/I Editor, but does not lock the file. The View action opens the file in the default editor for that file. If, for example, you most recently opened the file in the z Systems LPEX Editor, then that is the editor in which the View action opens the file. You can change the file while you are viewing it, but to save your changes you must specify a new data set member name.
2 For IDz users, you can also do the same task in the z/OS Projects view.
3 For IDz users, changes made to a file opened in the COBOL or PL/I Editor by using the View action can be saved to a local project only. The changes cannot be saved to a remote system or a remote project. For more information, search for z Systems LPEX Editor, COBOL Editor, and PL/I Editor in IDz KC.
4 For IDz users, the MVS Files subsystem Properties view also displays the following information:
Property Group Name
The name of the property group that is associated with the subsystem.
Property Group Overrides
Whether any values in the property group were overridden: Yes or No.